


The Stars Look Back

by TakingOverMidnight3482



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Sharpshooter Lance (Voltron), Too many pairings, basically whatever the fuck i think of, but also friendship things, is a lot of things, like a lot of klance, probably mostly klance tho, some chapters crossposted to tumblr, some chapters may contain character deaths, which
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2018-08-13 08:39:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 44,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7969885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TakingOverMidnight3482/pseuds/TakingOverMidnight3482
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of Voltron one shots that I've accumulated and need to put somewhere. Ranges widely in terms of ratings, pairings, and genres. Updated sporadically. </p><p>Currently up:</p><p>Shiro managed a weak grin and glanced over, eyeing the mice as they eyed him. "I guess that's true, it is..."</p><p>He trailed off, realization slowly dawning in his brain. "Did...did you just talk?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Jealous

**Author's Note:**

> The title doesn't really imply anything within the work; I just thought it was really pretty. 
> 
> On a side note, I have far too many one-shot series.

Lance stood silently in the main dining room, leaning against the door with his temple on the wall and his hands tucked into his pocket, watching as Keith and Shiro laughed over some joke that Coran had told. 

It wasn’t even that funny, but they wouldn’t shut up. 

“Two year olds,” Lance muttered under his breath, pulling his hands from his pockets and crossing his arms over his chest. He flopped backwards so that his back rested against the wall and sighed, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling. “They’re both two year olds.”

“You’re one to talk.”

Lance almost kicked Hunk in the stomach, he was so startled. “Jesus Christ, man!” he yelped, pressing a hand to his pounding heart and bending over at the waist. “Don’t do that!”

Hunk smirked a little and waited patiently, munching on a sandwich while Lance gathered his wits back together and processed what the paladin had said. “What do you mean, I’m one to talk?” he finally demanded. 

Hunk shrugged, gesturing with his sandwich at Keith and Shiro. “Calling them two year olds.”

Lance made a face at his friend. “Hardee har har. I get it, I joke around a lot, so I act like a two-year-old. Clever, Hunk. First time I’ve heard that one.”

Hunk ignored the sarcasm and shook his head. “No. I mean…you’re jealous, aren’t you? Of how much time they spend together?”

Lance practically choked on his own saliva, stumbling in place and putting a hand on the wall to steady himself. “What?” he managed. “No way, why the hell would I be jealous?”

Hunk snorted and shook his head. “Dude, come on. You liking Keith is about as obvious as Pidge being a girl was. Except in this case, he’s you.”

Lance’s face grew hot and he crossed his arms over his chest again, staring at the floor and letting his hair fall across his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hunk sighed and nudged his friend gently. “Come on man. It’s fine. The puppy dog face you were making a minute ago kind of gave everything away.”

Lance grimaced and looked back up at Hunk through a shield of hair, gaze darting back to Keith as the pilot shoved Shiro’s arm lightly and cracked up, smile crossing his cheeks and lighting up his eyes. 

A sadder copy of the smile slid onto Lance’s lips and he took a deep breath, shrugging and glancing at Hunk. “Doesn’t matter,” he said softly. “He doesn’t like me. He and Shiro were friends before we all were so like...I dunno.”

He shrugged a second time and pushed off of the wall, shoving his hands back into his pockets and flashing a cheeky grin in Hunk’s direction. “I’ll live. See ya.”

Lance sauntered off as fast as he could, back towards his room, and Hunk stared sadly after him, not missing the way his voice had hitched on the last words before he left. 

How Lance couldn’t see that Keith was trying to make him jealous on purpose, Hunk couldn’t for the life of him figure out. 

Idiots.


	2. Faint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually bull shit, but I had friends who found it amusing so *shrugs*

“You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”

“Lance. I literally just tripped. There was no passing out involved. There was a ledge there.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Hunk. You definitely want all of this,” Lance teased, gesturing to himself with one arm.

“Lance, you’re dating Keith.”

“Doesn’t mean he isn’t down for a threesome.”

“I’m not!” called Keith from an entirely different part of the castle. 

Lance pouted, promptly dropped Hunk onto the ground, and stomped out of the room. “That’s the last time I save you from dying,” he grumbled. 

“It was three feet!”

“YOU’RE WELCOME!”


	3. Dammit Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character death in this chapter, just so you know :)

The blender whirred on the counter and Lance ducked underneath the table to grab at the fruit- at least he thought it was fruit- he was planning to add to the smoothie he was making. 

Footsteps sounded in the kitchen and he looked up, standing with various colored treats in his arms. Pidge stood there, a curious look on her face. “What are you doing, Lance?”

He grinned at her and dumped the fruit onto the table. “Making a smoothie. I got tired of eating the green gloop that Coran was feeding us so I decided to test out some of these space fruits and see if any of them make good smoothies.”

Pidge nodded thoughtfully. “Nice. Want some help?”

“Sure,” Lance agreed, tossing her a fruit that looked exactly like a dragon fruit, except that it was orange. “Cut that. Coran told me everything in here is safe for us to eat, but I have no idea how any of it tastes.”

He clicked off the blender while Pidge grabbed a knife and cut into the fruit. “I already tossed in this purple fruit that tastes kinda like strawberries. I was hoping to find something that tastes like banana, or maybe mango.”

Pidge picked up a piece of the orange fruit and popped it into her mouth, her nose wrinkling and lips puckering. “Not this one,” she choked out, eyes watering. “It’s like a lemon combined with sour milk.”

Lance grimaced and tossed her another one. “Yeah, nope. Let’s keep going.”

While she sliced and tested fruit, Lance dumped the space equivalent of yogurt into the blender. “You good to go?” he asked Pidge over his shoulder. 

She nodded, handing over a few chopped up pieces. “Yup. This one is like a sweeter version of banana. Don’t put too much in.”

He tossed in a couple of chunks and then pressed down on the button. 

Yogurt and fruit chunks flew up into the air, the lid of the blender forgotten on the counter, and splattered all over the walls and Lance’s face. Pidge, who was out of the splash zone, slapped her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing too hard. 

There was a long moment of silence and then Lance slumped, scowling at the blender. “Fucking Keith,” he muttered. 

“Keith isn’t even here!” Pidge protested. 

“Still his fault.”

…..

“Has anyone gotten the laundry out yet?” Lance asked the room, dressed in nothing but his boxers and an old shirt. “I really need a change of clothes.”

“No kidding,” Hunk muttered. “Should be done.”

Lance turned on his heel and ventured off to the laundry room, pulling open the dryer and staring at the interior. 

Pink.

So much pink. 

“Dammit, Keith.”

….

“Hey Shiro, have you seen Coran anywhere?” Lance asked, popping his head into the training room and raising an eyebrow at his teammate, who was training alongside Keith. 

The two paused, panting from their workout and sweating a little. “Should be in the control room, why?” Shiro asked, wiping at his forehead with the back of his hand. 

“I was looking to see if he could maybe set up a hook up so I could play video games.”

“Dude, we’re in space,” Keith said. 

“I know,” Lance shot back. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to kick your butts at something not physical.”

Shiro shook his head but gestured towards the control room. “That was where I saw him last. Good luck trying to explain to him what video games are, though.”

Lance tipped his pointer finger off of his forehead and turned to walk out the door, promptly catching his foot on the door jamb and face planting into the floor. 

“Dammit, Keith,” he growled into the tile. 

“Dude! I literally haven’t moved!”

“It’s still your fault.”

….

“So how exactly do you get the measurements for the mice?” Lance asked, tongue peeking out of the corner of his mouth as he stuck a needle through a piece of fabric. 

Coran held up the tiny coat he was making and squinted at it, eyes roving over the details. “They listen and hold still fairly well. Not too difficult. How’s that hat coming?”

Lance lifted a hand and ran it over his forehead, rubbing the tension from between his eyes. “I think okay. Why exactly are we making them coats and hats again?”

“For when winter comes!” Coran declared. 

“We’re in space.”

“Precisely! It will be much colder because of the lack of atmosphere!”

“But we’re-never mind. Pass me the feather for the hat?”

Coran handed over a tiny purple feather and Lance pursed his lips, hunching over his work and pulling the needle delicately through the fabric. 

“You’re quite good at this, Lance,” Coran noted, sewing a button onto the coat. 

“Yeah well, my mom taught all of us how to sew at a young age so we wouldn’t have to do it,” Lance said with a shrug. “She said she didn’t want- ow!”

He flinched away from the hat and stuck his thumb in his mouth instinctively, needle dropping to the table. When he pulled his thumb back out, blood pooled from the tiny prick on the surface and he scowled down at it. 

“Keith, you motherfucker.”

“Lance, Keith isn’t-”

“It’s still his fault.”

…..

“No no no no no,” Lance cried out, diving to the floor and his weapon clattering from his hand to the ground. “Keith, please, please, come on!”

He swallowed a sob and slid his arms under the paladin’s shoulder, lifting his upper body into his grasp and brushing Keith’s hair away from his eyes. 

Blood slid from the gash in his chest, and Lance was well aware of the other paladins fighting off the Galra soldiers around them. His gaze, however, was focused on using his free hand to press against the gaping wound, fingers sliding in the blood. 

“Don’t you dare die on me,” Lance snapped, tears filling his eyes. “Come on, you asshole.”

Keith shuddered in his arms and Lance swallowed, lifting his bloody hand to cup Keith’s cheek. “Please. Come on, Keith,” he choked out, his voice breaking. “Don’t do this to me.”

Keith didn’t respond, his body shaking again and his head tilting to the side, lips stained crimson. His weight grew to be too heavy for Lance to hold up and the blue paladin gently lowered his teammate’s body to the floor, pressing his hands to his mouth and leaving behind bright red handprints on his skin. 

Tears slid down his cheeks and Lance leaned over, pressing his forehead against Keith’s and taking a shuddering breath, his vision blurry as he struggled to stay calm. 

“Dammit, Keith.”


	4. Childlike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the entire team discovers that Lance is apparently really good with children and Keith falls just a little.

“Okay, it looks like that’s everyone,” Shiro declared, watching as the Zarkon prisoners filed past him into the castle. 

“Not quite,” Allura protested, bending over and peering into the cage that they had just emptied out. 

The rest of the paladins leaned around her to find a child prisoner huddled in the corner, tears streaming down their cheeks and their arms curled around themselves. The aliens they had freed were fairly humanoid, save for a set of bat-like wings on their backs which the child had wrapped as tightly around their body as they could go. 

“Poor guy,” Coran murmured, rubbing his chin. “Probably got stolen from his family.”

Shiro knelt to the ground and held a hand out, giving a gentle smile. “Ready to go, buddy? We can keep you safe. Promise.”

The kid shook his head abruptly and scooted further into their corner, limbs trembling. Shiro deflated a little, looking bewildered, and glanced back at the other paladins. Pidge pressed her hands to her thighs and gave a weak grin. 

“We have food, too.”

The child buried his head into his knees and scrunched into his wings, leaving no room for argument. 

“Just pick him up and get him on the ship,” Keith suggested. “We don’t know how long we have before we get caught.”

“I wouldn’t suggest that,” Coran said. “The edges of their wings are poisonous if they scratch you. It’s their main defense, and if he gets frightened-”

“You guys are idiots.”

Lance shoved through the group and waved them off, sinking to the ground at the mouth of the cave and pulling his helmet off. He crossed his legs under him and settled the helmet to the side of him, mussing up his hair with his free hand. 

“Don’t mind my friends,” he said softly, giving a chuckle. “They’re a little paranoid. I bet you’re scared, huh?”

The wings shifted ever so slightly and a bright silver eye peeked out at him. Lance smiled warmly and leaned back on his hands, tilting his chin up and avoiding eye contact. “I know how you feel,” he said after a moment. “I remember when I got here. I was a little freaked out, you know? Really far away from home, didn’t have my mom with me.”

He laughed and sat back up, settling his elbows onto his knees and looking over at the child. “I think you’d like my mom. She bakes great cookies.”

The wings moved away a bit further and the eyebrows on the child furrowed a little. Lance waved a hand at him. “Oh, yeah, you probably have no idea what cookies are. It’s cool, man. They’re a type of sweet food with this stuff called chocolate in them, and they taste kind of like…sugar and love.”

He was well aware of the jaw dropping going on behind him, but Lance ignored his friends in favor of focusing on the child. “I think you’d like them. My little sister loves cookies. I think she’s addicted to them. She always has one in each hand and two more shoved in each pocket. I remember one time, she was climbing a tree in the yard and she swung upside down and suddenly there were like, seven cookies on the ground.”

The softest of giggles spilled from the child’s lips, revealing tiny pointed teeth, and Lance grinned, eyes glittering. “Yeah, she’s nuts. We used to wrestle when I lived at home, and I always let her win because she would run around gloating about it for like a week and then she’d feel so bad about gloating she would give me the biggest hug.”

Lance ducked his head and glanced at the ground, eyebrows furrowed. “I miss her hugs. A lot. And I bet you miss hugs too. I think hugs are the best part of being around other people.”

He paused for a moment, shoulders slumping. “Sometimes you just…really need one.”

It was almost instantaneous, how quickly there were tiny arms latched around his neck, wings curling around his shoulders and a face buried into his shirt. 

Lance smiled and wrapped his arms around the kid, grabbing at his helmet and pushing himself to his feet. When he turned, child cradled against his chest, he found every single one of his team members staring at him in astonishment, save for Hunk, who had met his entire family at one point and seen how he was with kids.

“How did you-?”

Lance ignored Pidge, shifting the kid in his arms and pressing his forehead against theirs. “Want me to bake you some cookies, so you can try them?”

After one enthusiastic head bob, Lance was strolling into the ship, one alien child clinging to him like he was his mother and four impressed paladins following. 

“That,” Keith muttered under his breath as he stepped inside, “was way too cute.”

“I heard that.”

“If you value your life, Hunk, you will shut up.”


	5. Shirts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An alternate reveal scenario in regards to Pidge being a girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really like how they had Lance react to Pidge being a girl in the show, so I wrote an alternate reveal. I know there is a little discourse over Pidge's pronouns, but I headcanon her as asexual and straight using she/her pronouns. This is all third person but from Lance's general perspective, so at the beginning when he thinks Pidge is male, he/him is used, when he isn't sure it turns to they/their, and when she says she's a girl it's switched to she/her.

“Pidge? PIDGE!?”

Lance combed his way through the wreckage of what was left of the green lion, his heart in his throat as he searched for his fallen teammate. The hit from the alien crafts they had been fighting had been fired directly through the green lions central control system and Pidge had lost all control and crashed onto some densely forested planet. 

He had already called the other paladins for backup, but knew they wouldn’t get there for at least an hour. So for the moment, it was up to him to find Pidge and get him back to the safety of his blue lion, which was waiting patiently for him at the edge of the foliage. 

Lance took a deep breath and called out Pidge’s name for what was quite possibly the thirtieth time, and this time he was rewarded with a soft groan. 

“Pidge!”

He scrambled over several pieces of twisted metal and pushed aside a small fallen tree to reveal his teammate, who was face down on the ground with his arms struggling to push himself up off the dirt. Lance instantly knelt at his side and settled a gentle hand between his shoulder blades. 

“Whoa, whoa, hey man. Chill. Is anything broken?”

Pidge shivered and ducked his head, hair falling across his sweat covered forehead. “I think…maybe my ribs?”

Lance cursed under his breath and nodded, getting down even further so that he could look Pidge in the eyes. “Okay. I’m going to have to pick you up then, okay? My lion is less than thirty feet away. That cool?”

Pidge hesitated, arms trembling as he tried to hold himself up, and then he nodded. “Yeah. Just…don’t touch it. It hurts.”

Lance nodded and carefully helped Pidge into a sitting position before settling one arm along his back and sliding the other under his bent knees. “This might suck,” he warned him.

Pidge pursed his lips together and clenched his fingers around each other, giving Lance a soft go ahead that shook a little too much for Lance’s comfort. 

In one swift move, he lifted the smaller paladin off of the forest floor, wincing at the yelp that spilled from Pidge’s lips as he was jostled. “Sorry, sorry,” Lance muttered over and over again, turning and setting off at a gentle jog back towards his lion. 

Pidge shuddered against him and his fingers flexed over his body, tears streaming down his cheeks at the pain that had flared up in his chest. Lance cursed again and ducked to avoid hitting a tree branch. 

“Almost there, buddy. The others will be here within the hour too, so you don’t have to worry about being stuck with me for that long.”

Pidge managed a weak grin and he peeled his eyes open, staring up at Lance from under his glasses. “Better…than being alone,” he wheezed. 

Lance swallowed the lump in his throat and bobbed his head, forcing a smile onto his face and darting up the ramp into his lion, heading for the cockpit and settling Pidge down into the chair as gently as possible. He darted off and returned moments later with a massive first aid kit. 

“Do you even know how to use that stuff?” Pidge joked weakly, his eyes a little hazy as he watched Lance kneel on the floor and flip the top open. 

Lance snorted and waved a hand dismissively. “I wasn’t going to try anything radical. I’ll save the actual healing for when we get back to the castle. But I do want to bind your ribs so that they don’t hurt as much. Can you get your shirt off, or do you need help?”

He was met with silence and he looked up, worried that Pidge might have passed out, only to find the paladin staring at him with a sheet white face. “My…my shirt?” 

“Yeah,” Lance said with a shrug. “Wrapping over the shirt won’t do much good, plus I want to make sure there’s no bruising. Oh here, there’s a pair of scissors in here. That way you won’t have to twist your arms.”

“Lance…”

“Chill,” Lance assured him, pulling the scissors out and scooting over to Pidge on his knees. “I won’t stab you. Promise.”

“No, Lance, you don’t-!”

The scissors slid neatly up the front of Pidge’s shirt without a single hitch, the blades sharp and shiny and making a satisfying tearing sound in the fabric. 

Lance froze the moment the shirt fell away and his face went bright red, the scissors clattering to the floor. He pressed his hands to his mouth and just stared for a second, completely unaware of what he was doing. 

“You-”

“Lance.”

He instantly tore his eyes away from the sports bra that covered Pidge’s chest and turned his gaze to his- her- their- face. He winced when he saw the panicked look in their eyes and he swallowed, turning away and picking up the scissors. 

“Pidge I’m…so sorry. I didn’t-”

“I know,” Pidge assured him quickly. “It’s okay. I should have…said something. Sooner.”

Lance shook his head abruptly and sank back on his heels, chewing on a thumb nail. “It’s okay. That was your secret to tell; people can be nasty. I’m not judging you. I promise. And I won’t tell the others if you don’t want me to, though I’m sure none of them would judge you either.”

Pidge stared at him for a minute before cracking a smile and shaking their head. “You’re sweet, Lance. But I’m not transgender. I was born a girl, and I’m still a girl. I went…undercover. To look for my brother and father. The head of the school banned me from the academy for breaking in one too many times, so there was no other way for me to get in. I’m…sorry I lied to you guys. I was afraid you’d rat me out.”

Lance studied her for a moment before giving a soft smile. “Either way,” he finally said. “That sucks. Now…about your ribs?”

He flushed a little and held up the roll of ace bandages. “I uh…don’t know if you can do this by yourself or if you even want me to-”

“Lance,” Pidge cut him off with a dry look. She shrugged out of the remains of her shirt with a grimace and tossed it to the floor. “I really don’t give two shits. I’ll hold onto it at the front and you just wrap it around, okay?”

Lance nodded and got back up off the floor, holding out the end of the bandage to Pidge and waiting while she positioned it in the center of her chest before starting to wrap it.

They worked slowly, Lance staying more respectful of her body than Pidge would have imagined he could be, and Lance trying very hard to make the bandage tight enough to hold her ribs firm but not tight enough to hurt her further. 

When they finally ran out of bandage they had gotten down to her upper stomach, and Lance secured the wrap with a clasp he had found in the kit, tongue peeking out while he stuck it onto the bandages. 

He cleaned up the kit and disappeared again, reappearing with a clean white t-shirt in his hands and handing it over. “It’ll be big on you,” he said with a shrug. “But it’s better than everyone walking in and our lives becoming a scene straight out of Mulan.”

Pidge stared at him incredulously while she struggled into the shirt. “You mean you aren’t going to tell them?”

Lance shrugged, spreading his hands out to either side of him. “Don’t see why I need to. That’s up to you, not me.”

Pidge bit her lip and ducked her head, spreading her fingers delicately over the hem of the shirt and toying with a frayed piece of string. “Thanks, Lance.”

He grinned and ruffled her hair playfully. “Not a problem. Always wanted another little sister.”

Pidge rolled her eyes but smiled, shaking her head. “Weirdo. Now is there a way to get the green lion out of the forest?”

Lance’s face grew serious and he turned to look out the window, eyes studying the remains of the mechanical feline. “I honestly don’t know,” he admitted. “We’ll have to wait for everyone else to get here to figure that out. I hope we can though. We need it.”

Lance sank down into his chair and spun to face Pidge, fingers tapping at the armrests. “So I guess we’re stuck until they get here.”

Pidge nodded and rubbed her thumb subconsciously over the wrapping on her stomach. “Now what?”

Lance paused, eyes scanning the interior of the lion for something to do and making a mental note to stock up on card games for the future. “Uh…actually…quick question. That one time I walked back into the room naked after my shower without warning you…?”

Pidge grinned wickedly and twined her fingers together in front of her face. “How much money you got, Lance?”

“Aw, fuck.”


	6. Homesick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed homesick Lance and Pidge friendship.

It was dark. Lance had found that he liked the dark. Not the icy black, never ending, soul sucking darkness of space kind of dark, but a deep gray that filled the air like smoke and blocked him from the rest of the universe, shadowing him in the hidden corners while holograms of the Milky Way drifted past. 

He was there more often than not, in his spare down time when he didn’t need to be training with the other Paladins, watching Earth spin by over and over again, his gaze locked on the United States and his soul in his throat. 

Coran was usually good about keeping everyone out of the room when he went in, and Lance appreciated that. He knew the Altean understood how he felt, and Coran seemed to know that Lance didn’t want people seeing him act weak. 

He had honestly thought he would have gotten over it by now, or cried too many tears to cry any more. But Lance had found that no matter how often he was in there, every time the Earth flickered to life tears sprang to his eyes and he had to sit down, curling into a ball in the corner and sinking into the darkness. 

He swallowed and scraped his palm against the side of his face, rubbing the tears onto his jacket sleeve and then wrapping his arms around his knees and burying his nose into the crook of his elbow. 

He missed home. Missed his parents and his siblings and his friends. Missed the home cooked meals his mother made, the way his youngest siblings would fight to set the table and the way the oldest ones would have wrestling matches to get out of doing the dishes. 

Lance took a shaky breath and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes, struggling not to completely lose it. They had to train in ten minutes; he couldn’t walk out there looking like a mess. 

His parents didn’t even know he was alive. They thought he was missing, or dead, and he might as well be. He was on an alien spaceship on the other side of the galaxy, for god’s sake. Hell, they had probably already had a funeral for him. 

Lance shuddered and dragged his hands through his hair roughly, trying to cause enough pain on his head to take away from the ache in his heart. 

“Hey Lance, Allura wanted me to come find you for the- whoa. Are you okay?”

Lance scrambled to his feet, wiping at the tears on his cheeks frantically and spinning to face Pidge, plastering a smile on his face. “Yup! I’m good! Didn’t realize it had gotten that late already!”

His voice cracked a little and he winced, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck and turning to the control panel. “Let me uh…let me just turn this off and go grab my weapon.”

Pidge’s hand settled lightly on his forearm and he froze, shutting his eyes and gulping at her gentle touch. “You miss home, don’t you?”

It wasn’t a question, Lance knew that, and it took everything in him to nod his head. He knew that if he spoke, he was a goner, and he didn’t need Pidge teasing him for the rest of his life about crying while on the coolest mission ever. 

“It’s okay,” Pidge murmured, squeezing his arm. “I do too. I miss my mom.”

Lance clenched his hands tightly around the console and ducked his head, nodding. “Y-yeah,” he managed, words coming out broken and hollow. “Me too. I-I mean, I miss…my mom. Not…not your-”

“Lance.”

He gave up on the feeble joke and broke, shoulders shaking as he sank to the ground and wrapped his arms tightly around himself, tears rolling down his cheeks and sinking into the collar of his jacket. “I’m sorry,” he choked out. 

Pidge knelt in front of him and pulled his hands into hers, eyes filled with sincerity under her glasses. “It’s okay,” she promised, rubbing soothing circles over his knuckles. “I’ve heard the way you talk about your family, Lance. You’re all close. I know you miss them. It’s okay to let it out.”

He gave a harsh laugh and shook his head, pulling a hand away from Pidge’s grasp to rub it across his jaw. “I can’t,” he said, swiping at the tears under his eyes. “I’m…I’m supposed to be the funny one. I’m…I have to be tough.”

“Says who?” Pidge demanded. “Lance, whatever you think, none of us are gonna think any less of you for being homesick. We all are. You just have…more to miss.”

Her voice grew softer and, to Lance’s startled surprise, she slid closer to him until she was practically in his lap and wrapped her arms around his torso firmly, rubbing his back. “It’s okay.”

Lance took a deep breath and returned the hug, pressing his forehead to the top of her scalp and attempting to slow his breathing by focusing on the scent of Pidge’s shampoo. His fingers curled against her back as she leaned into him and he shivered, coming down from his anguish.

“Thanks, Pidge,” he muttered into her hair. 

She nodded against his chest and they sat silently, shrouded in the dark.


	7. Blind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst angst angst angst
> 
> Character death warning, and a lot of mentions of blood.

It was the dark side of twilight when Keith managed to pull his body off of the floor, the sun’s brilliant rays vanished to the other side of the planet they had crash landed on and the violet color of night sinking its grip into everything around him, making it impossible to see. 

His hand raked through his hair as he struggled to move, coming back sticky and matted with blood. Keith could tell the cut wasn’t deep so he ignored it, dragging his hand down his shirt to rid it of the pungent substance and pushing himself to his feet. 

“Pidge?” he called out, the rasp of his voice swallowed by the darkness. 

She was the last one he had recalled seeing before they were hit by Zarkon’s ship, her eyes wide with horror and her fingers tapping frantically at the castle’s controls in an attempt to steady their descent. 

No answer. 

He tried again, twisting on his feet and hissing as his ankle swiveled the wrong way, pain flaring up through his leg and nearly crippling him. “S-Shiro?”

Keith’s voice echoed back at him, his own presence his only comfort. “Hunk?”

He could hear the quiver in his voice as he went down the list, hear the fear and the heart palpitating anguish as it started to dawn on him that no one was going to answer. 

“…Lance?”

His voice cracked and he pressed a fist to his mouth, biting down on a knuckle as he strained his ears for something, _anything_ , that might signal that someone was alive, or at least conscious. 

Nothing.

Keith moved forwards slowly, foot dragging uselessly behind him as he stretched out his hands to feel for some kind of light source, or anyone who had been in the room with him. 

“Allura?” he tried as he hobbled, his breath coming in short pants.

He didn’t get time to listen for an answer before his good foot caught on something and sent him flying to the ground in a heap, his bad ankle screaming at him to stop fucking moving and just rest. 

Keith ignored it, spinning on the floor and stretching his hands out, fingers catching first on glasses and then on short, cropped hair.

“Pidge,” he breathed, sinking back in slight relief.

He ran a hand down her cheek, blind in the darkness, and settled two fingers at the curve under her jaw, heart sinking lower and lower the longer he sat there without feeling any kind of pulse. 

“No, no, no,” he snapped, leaning over her and using his touch alone to start a crude version of CPR, his leg flaring every time he put weight against her chest, his arms barking in exhaustion and sweat sliding down his forehead. 

When had the castle gotten so _hot_?

He gave up after some time, collapsing over the girl and dragging her against his chest, fingers curled tightly in her hair and forehead pressed to her scalp for a solid minute. Resigned to the fact that he couldn’t do anymore for her, Keith swallowed back a sob and laid her to the ground as gently as possible. 

“I’ll find Matt, Pidge,” he promised into the void, thumb brushing the girl’s bangs from her forehead delicately. “Promise.”

He shuddered and turned away from his fellow Paladin, crawling rather than walking across the floor in the direction he thought the control panel was. 

His hand hit yet another form, this one much larger, and he knew before he had even gotten to the head of the person that they were dead; his knees slid in the blood on the floor and at one point he nearly smacked his head off of the ground when his hands slipped. 

The height and the mass of the person identified them as Hunk and Keith pressed two bloody hands to his mouth, struggling to take in one breath after the other, his eyes closed against the lightless room. 

He kept moving. 

The next one he came across was Coran; he knew that based on the gloved hands and the way he was slumped over top of Allura’s still form. 

Despite his act of valor, the man hadn’t been able to save his princess, and Keith knew that the last of the Altean’s had finally gone extinct. 

It was all he could do to keep crawling, arms coated in dried blood and limbs shaking so badly that he was amazed he was still moving at all. Everything was slowly catching up to him, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before the adrenaline in his body wore off and he finally collapsed to the ground to join his friends.

_Lance and Shiro,_ he reminded himself. _Lance and-_

His fingers hit solid body mass and he froze, eyes sliding shut and an involuntary sob spilling from his lips. 

“Shit.”

Keith unwillingly dragged his hands up the body, fingers feeling out the shape of the face and the hair and then drifting down to the left side, mental image coming in full when the skin shifted to metal that was slowly rusting over with even more blood.

Why did people have so much blood? 

Just to the right of Shiro’s body, Keith smacked into the control panel, and he shakingly dragged himself back to his feet, arms screaming with the effort and fingers and shoes sliding against the ground. 

He ran his hands over the panel, shutting his eyes and pushing past the images of his dead friends to pull up a picture of the control panel, where exactly he knew the light switch was. His fingers drifted to the left and hesitated for one beat over the button. 

Two. 

Three.

_Click._

Unprepared for the light, Keith yelped and threw his arms up to cover his face, eyes burning at the sensation and feet nearly sliding out from under him at the sudden movement.   
He pulled them away slowly, blinking as fast as possible to let his eyes adjust, and he kept his gaze down, focusing on the control panel and his blood soaked fingertips, crimson congealing in the cuticles and running down his skin. 

For a gruesome moment, he was reminded of the raindrop races he used to hold at his home when he was bored, cheering for one bead of water to slide to the end of the window pane before the other. 

Shaking the memory from his head and the blood from his hands, Keith mustered the courage to pull his eyes up and look over the control panel, refusing to glance back over his shoulder at the carnage he had just waded through. 

His gaze instead was drawn to Lance, curled around himself in a fetal position away from the other Paladins. 

Keith remembered him saying something about getting the lions ready before they were hit, remembered him running for the hangar when they were struck. 

It seemed unnatural that he wasn’t lying alongside the others. 

Keith swallowed again, his throat tasting vaguely of copper, and he stumbled his way around the controls, pressing his lips into a thin line and lifting his gaze as he was forced to step over Shiro’s body. 

He tripped halfway there, knees finally giving out on him, and landed on the ground, fingers curled into the tile underneath him and shoulder trembling as he finally started sobbing, pulling himself desperately to Lance’s body and grasping his face between his hands. 

“Come on, you fucking _idiot_ ,” he choked out, vision blurred and fingers shaking so violently that Lance’s cheeks kept falling from his hands. “Don’t you _dare_ leave me all alone here, you asshole. _You were supposed to be better than me._ ”

His sob wrenched at his heart, pulling it and crushing it in anguish, and he struggled to yank Lance’s head into his lap, brushing back his hair from his face.

“You were supposed to be the better pilot,” he whispered. “Right? You’re better than me, Lance. Come on. _Say it_.”

He knew it wouldn’t happen. Knew Lance was dead. Something in Keith snapped and he shuddered, dipping his head and pressing his forehead to Lance’s, back heaving with the effort of breathing. 

It was so hot. He was so fucking hot. 

Lance’s body shifted in his grasp and moments later Keith’s fingers were being pushed at and nuzzled aside, and he lifted his gaze to find the fucking mice, of all things, scampering away from Lance’s still form and skittering up to Keith, eyes filled with concern. 

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

He shifted his gaze from Lance’s body and then back to the animals at his fingertips, and suddenly Keith started laughing hysterically, hands dragging through his hair harshly and tugging strands of it out. 

“You saved the fucking mice, you fucking sentimental little…”

Keith’s lip quivered and he sank back, Lance’s head still in his lap. “ _Shit_.”

Whiskers kissed at his cheek and Keith let out a shaky breath, lifting a bloodied hand to stroke the mouse delicately and calm down. 

“Okay,” he whispered, tilting his head and glancing off to the side of the room, eyes catching at the fire that had started in the engine room. That explained why it had gotten so hot in the castle. “Okay. Teach me how to fix this.”

He glanced down to find the animals staring up at him sadly, whiskers trembling, and Keith gave them a weak smile. “There…is no way to fix that. Is there?”

It wasn’t really a question, but the mice still shook their heads back and forth. Keith nodded and gathered them up into one arm, allowing them to scamper up it and bury their faces into his hair and collar. 

He sat calmly, stroking Lance’s hair back from his face, and eventually shut his eyes to let the world go dark as the fire grew out of control and broiled his skin to a crisp. 

Somewhere in the depths of space, the last Altean castle exploded, taking the planet it had crash landed on with it.


	8. Shades of Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cross-posted to my tumblr account pftones3482. Based off of the "Keith Synesthesia" AU. 
> 
> KLANCE AHEAD

Colors. There were too many colors. His lion was red, always red, but today she was a softer red, like she knew, like she was trying to calm him down, like she could sense the pounding sensation in his forehead. Maybe she could. Keith didn’t know how the lions worked, not really. Maybe they could read their thoughts, knew their emotions, could adjust to help their paladins. That would be nice. 

Pidge was bright, too bright sometimes, their voice sliding between octaves of lime and emerald and forest that made Keith’s headache worse. They didn’t mean to, he knew that. 

Hunk was warmer, easier to be around unless he got excited. His autumn yellow switched then, from the fall yellow of maple leaves to the brightness of the sun. It hurt Keith’s eyes. It made him wonder if Hunk had always been yellow, or if he only was because of his lion. 

If all of them were because of their lions. 

But they weren’t, because Shiro was brown when he spoke. He was cinnamon when he commanded them, chocolate when he was scared. Sometimes it was almost black, but brown wasn’t usually too vibrant for Keith. He liked being around Shiro because he was calm, because he was brown. 

Coran was good too, unless he was excited. He was an orange that made Keith think of leaf piles and pumpkins, but if he got too ecstatic over something he became the ugly orange of a traffic cone. Allura was a mixture of pinks and purples and reds, her voice like honeysuckle flowers and warm. But she was too many colors for Keith, constantly fluctuating. 

And Lance…

“Keith?”

Keith pressed his hands over his ears, squishing his eyes shut and struggling to take in several slow breaths, trying to tune Lance out of his mind. 

Lance was blue, which wasn’t surprising. But he was every shade of blue, his fears turning his voice into the deepest parts of the ocean and his happiness making him the sky on a summer day. When he flirted, the blue wavered between shades, almost like it was laughing at him, and usually that thought made Keith smile. 

Today, though? Today Keith just wanted it to all go away. 

“You okay, buddy?”

It was a tone Keith hadn’t heard before, and the colors shifted over his eyes unbidden. Years ago, when Keith had access to his local library, he had spent weeks upon weeks into months learning all the names of every color he had ever seen, something that could help him cope with what he was going through. Putting a tangible name to his colors made them easier to handle. 

This tone of Lance’s, this one he had never heard? He couldn’t quite place it. It shifted between azure and cerulean. It was the most beautiful shade of blue he had ever seen before, and it calmed him just enough so that he could look up at Lance.

He stared down at him in concern, hands tucked into his pockets and head tilted just enough for his hair to fall into his eyes in such a way that Keith wanted to move it aside. “What?”

Lance frowned and knelt, the fabric of his jeans creating a denim blue sound. “Are you okay? You ran out of that party almost as soon as the aliens got here.”

Keith gazed past Lance’s shoulder and over his bed towards where he knew Allura was holding the party for their current host planet. “I uh…”

He shivered as he spoke, digging his fingernails into his scalp and struggling to breathe. He hated the color of his voice, was usually able to ignore it unless he became overwhelmed. It was the darkest blood red he could ever remember seeing, and it made his stomach churn when he saw it. 

Lance seemed to understand his discomfort and he sank down next to him, his body sending flares of aquamarine into the air. He reached out an arm and tucked it around Keith, the sound of their clothing sliding together mixing and turning to magenta in Keith’s eyes. His breath hitched as he watched the color, gaze fixed on the air and fingers trembling against his head. 

“Keith?”

He turned back to Lance, eyes wide, and swallowed. “Too much,” he finally managed. “Too many colors.”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows just enough to make Keith panic before his eyes lit with understanding. “Oh,” he breathed, keeping his voice low and his colors muted. “Your synesthesia. Right. All those people out there must…”

He trailed off and Keith nearly whimpered at the loss of the beautiful blue. “Keep talking,” he murmured, cringing at the sight of his own words. 

Lance gazed at him for a second before speaking. “You sure?”

Keith nodded his head. He knew he’d feel awkward later, knew he’d avoid the topic as much as possible, but in the moment, he needed Lance more than he cared to admit. “Your voice is…”

“Describe it,” Lance said, blue wisps trailing from his mouth so delicately that Keith wanted to brush his thumb over Lance’s lip and see if they were real. “Tell me what it looks like.”

Keith shuddered and twisted under Lance’s arm, watching the dark pink spark momentarily before leaning on his bed and staring up at Lance. “It’s like…the blue on your suit lights. The top of a wave. The sky after it rains. The hottest part of a fire.”

He wasn’t sure when they had started leaning closer until he found that his crimson was gliding over Lance’s lips. Lance swallowed and gave Keith a weak smile. “Yeah?” he asked, his words colliding with Keith’s and turning magenta. “And…yours?”

“Just…just dark red.”

Lance hummed in the back of his throat, tossing out a few notes of cobalt. “And what about when our colors mix?”

Keith felt a chill go down his spine and he lifted his eyes to Lance’s, heart hammering in his chest and sending itty bitty thrums of red through his vision. “It’s…magenta. A dark violet and pink.”

Lance smiled, lifting a thumb to brush at the tears that had streaked Keith’s face and leaving his palm there, warm on Keith’s skin. “That’s pretty,” he murmured, voice low enough so that the color was only momentary. 

Keith nodded in agreement and, finally able to breathe again and process what was happening, he pressed forwards and kissed Lance, hands lifting to curl around his cheeks and neck. Lance didn’t pull back, instead sliding his fingers into Keith’s hair and tugging gently, teeth pulling on Keith’s lip and body pressing against him firmly. 

Purple shifted through Keith’s closed eyes, dancing over the blackness of his eyelids and sliding through his body in the most pleasing of ways, sending a smile to his lips. 

Lance broke away at the feeling of Keith’s smile, eyes sparkling and lips grinning. “Yeah?”

He snorted, leaning his forehead against Lance’s and giving a breathless laugh. “Yeah.”

“That color better?” 

Keith stared at him for a minute, fingers still tracing over the ridges of Lance’s cheeks. “No,” he answered, resting his hand against the curve of Lance’s jaw. 

Lance frowned, eyes worried. “No?”

“No. Because your shade of blue is the best.”


	9. Roses are Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Klance ahoy

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue_

_I am now and always have been_

_Better than you._

Keith lifted his gaze from the scrap paper, eyebrows narrowed as he locked gazes with a very gleeful Lance across the room. “Seriously, Lance?”

Lance was laughing too hard at this point to get any kind of words out of his mouth, rolling on the ground and holding his stomach as he cackled. “Your face,” he managed breathlessly. “Oh it was priceless!”

Keith scowled and crumpled the paper up between his hands, chucking it across the room and smacking it into Lance’s face. The blue paladin spluttered in surprise and Keith allowed himself a tiny smirk. 

This meant war.

___

**Roses are red, your lion is blue**

**You fight like a baby right out of the womb**

“THAT DOESN’T EVEN RHYME!” Lance protested, waving the paper in Keith’s grinning face and stomping a foot on the ground. “You can’t rhyme womb with blue!”

“Just did!”

“Keith, you are such a-”

“Language!” Shiro called absentmindedly from across the room, his feet propped up on Hunk’s lap as he read a magazine. 

Lance snapped his mouth shut and pouted, giving Keith a glare that could have killed him. “You need lessons on rhyming. No wonder you dropped out.”

Keith couldn’t help but snicker as Lance stormed out of the room. 

Point team red. 

___

_Roses are red_

_Your face is stupid_

_That red suit is not_

_The color for which you are suited_

“You could have avoided all of this if you had just picked a word other than stupid to describe my face,” Keith mused, stroking his chin and studying the poem Lance had triumphantly shoved in his face before their mission.

“Oh come on, that was great word play,” Lance snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and slouching where he stood. 

“Define great.”

“Fuck you, Keith.”

“Lance!” Shiro warned from where he was suiting up alongside Pidge and Hunk. 

Lance pursed his lips and turned away to put his helmet on. “If we weren’t going on this stupid mission, I swear…”

“Don’t swear. Shiro will get mad,” Keith laughed, checking over his own helmet for any flaws. “Don’t want that, now do you?”

Lance frowned and plucked the poem from Keith’s hands, tearing it up with irritation and throwing the pieces into the red paladin’s face. “You have no idea what I want.”

___

**Roses are red, I’m sorry you’re hurt**

**It’s all my fault, because I wasn’t alert**

Lance looked up from the paper airplane that had landed in his lap, peering over where his feet were kicked up on the sofa arm to look at Keith, who was slumped over the kitchen counter with a drink clutched in his hand and a pencil over his ear. 

He glanced down at his left arm, which was currently in a sling, and gave a thin smile. “It’s not your fault,” he said softly, knowing that only the two of them were in the immediate area. 

Keith’s shoulders stiffened and he peeked over at Lance, eyebrows furrowed. “I didn’t have your back,” he protested. “I’m…sorry. I should have been watching out.”

“It’s my own fault,” Lance promised. “I was dumb and wasn’t watching where I was going. You don’t have to watch out for me. But thanks.”

Keith smiled thinly and ducked his head.

___

_Roses are red_

_This poem is dumb_

_Just like your mullet_

_#get wrecked_

“Now who isn’t rhyming?” Keith teased, looking over at Lance and folding up the poem in his hands. 

Lance flushed and ducked his head. “I was high on painkillers, shut up.”

Keith snorted and shoved the paper into his back pocket, crossing his arms and shaking his head. “Admit it, Lance, I’m better at rhyming than you.”

“Not a chance, Mullet.”

___

**Roses are red, my mullet is cute**

**You just won’t admit it because you’re too obtuse**

“This one doesn’t even make sense, Keith!” Lance shouted across the training deck, watching as the paladin flipped over the bot he was fighting. “Obtuse is a MATH term!”

Next to him, Pidge snorted, covering her mouth with her hand. “Lance…”

“Not now Pidge. How’d you miss that?” Lance called out, watching with triumph as Keith got knocked to the ground by the robot. 

“Um, Lance-”

“One sec, Pidge. THIS IS WHY YOU WERE THE DROPOUT!”

“Lance, obtuse can also mean stupid or dense.”

There was a long pause as Lance processed this information before promptly squishing the paper between his fists and chucking it to the ground. “I hope the robot slices your head off!” he called over to Keith. 

He flipped him the middle finger and stormed out.

___

_Roses are red,_

_And I didn’t mean to be rude_

_Your head is the best_

_When it’s on the rest of you._

___

**Roses are red, I know that you didn’t**

**The poem I wrote was not a nice comment.**

___

_The poem was fine_

_My reaction was not_

_Can you ever forgive_

_This dumb astronaut?_

___

**You don’t have to ask, we’re friends, you and I**

**Consider all this an eye for an eye**

___

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue_

_I think maybe I have_

_A big crush on you._

___

**Roses are red, violets are blue**

**I think that I feel the same way as you.**

___

_Roses are red_

_Violets are blue_

_Can we stop with the poems_

_So I can kiss you?_


	10. It Hurts

“Keith! Keith, where the fuck _are_ you!?”

Shiro was basically hacking his lungs out as he searched through the wreckage of the city they had just totally decimated, smoke trailing through the air. He was so murdering Lance for taking that shot when he got back to the castle. 

But Keith had gone down in the wreckage, and his lion had been damaged, so no one could find him. As the least injured of the group, Shiro had volunteered to go find him. He just hadn’t expected it to be so hard. 

A very terrified squeak alerted him to the presence of the mice, who had been sent out alongside him to help search, and he turned to find the largest of them (they really needed names) standing up straight on a crumbled piece of brick wall. Its nose twitched and it scampered off in the opposite direction. Shiro hesitated only a moment before following. 

The mouse led him over about two blocks worth of rubble and fire, and Shiro was really glad that his suit was at least partially fireproof. He didn’t really want to test its full capabilities, though, so he stayed away from the flames as best he could. 

It was only when he heard an agonized groan coming from under a partially collapsed building that he ignored caution and sprinted through the fire, ducking under fallen beams and trying to pick out the tiny pinpoint that was the mouse. 

He nearly tripped over Keith’s body, it was so hidden in the rubble, and he had to throw his hands out in order to catch himself and not step on his friend’s face. 

“Holy shit Keith, what happened?”

Shiro knelt at his side and surveyed the wreckage while Keith coughed. His chest was pinned under a heavy metal beam and one of his legs was very clearly fractured. His helmet had been shattered and had sliced at his face, and there were tiny drops of blood rolling down his cheeks and neck even as Shiro watched. 

“There was…a kid. Had to…it hurts so bad. I can’t breathe, Shiro.”

It came out in what could only be called a whimper, and Shiro deflated, having never heard him sound so broken. “Hey man. It’s okay. Just chill, and I’ll call Hunk, see if he can get over here and-”

The remainder of the ceiling above them groaned and fire rained down around the two. Shiro instantly leaned over Keith, guarding his prone face with his body, and he studied the long metal beam that was keeping him down. “Or not. Okay, if I position myself right, I can-”

“Shiro.”

He looked down at Keith and winced at the look on his friend’s face. “Don’t you dare. I’m getting you out of here.”

Keith shook his head wearily. “Even if you could move that,” he whispered. “Even if you could slice it the right way, you wouldn’t be able to get me out of here in time. I’m pretty sure my ribs are crushed.”

Even as he tried to deny it, Shiro knew Keith was right. Blood was already flecking the pilot’s lips, his teeth stained a gentle pink color. Still, he had to try. 

He activated his hand and surveyed the beam, his eyes picking out key points that were being held up or pushed down by other pieces of rubble, and he started to slice away at the metal bit by bit. The ceiling continued to creak ominously, and the fire grew thicker and hotter than before. 

“Shiro!”

The desperation in Keith’s voice made the Paladin turn around to find his peer stretching a hand out to him, his face scrunched up in pain. “You get…the _hell_ out of here…or I swear when we both die…I will kick your ass.”

Shiro forced a laugh out of his mouth and knelt at his side again, clasping Keith’s hand in his and practically crushing it. “You sure?”

Keith grimaced, flinching as the roof shook again. “Positive.”

“Okay.”

Shiro took a shaky breath and pressed his forehead to Keith’s knuckles for a moment before setting his hand down on his chest and standing up. “I’m sorry, man.”

His voice cracked and he clicked his visor down, vision blurry as he took several steps back. The mice scampered over his feet and up his suit as he took a final look at his best friend. 

And with the image of a blood stained grin in his mind, he turned and ran as the building fell.


	11. Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angst.

“Lance? Everything okay?”

Lance peered over his shoulder to find Hunk watching him with concern, feet planted firmly on the blue lion and hands outspread in the air to keep his balance. Lance knew the top of Blue’s head was slick, knew it was hard to stand on, knew that Hunk was concerned about him being so near the edge. “Fine. Everything’s fine, Hunk. Go back inside. I know you don’t like heights.”

“Lance.”

The Blue Paladin swallowed the lump in his throat and clenched his fists in his pockets, lips pressed into a thin line and eyes watering. “What?”

Blue purred in his head, her aura scared, and he knew that Hunk could most likely feel the same worry. “Lance, it’s cold out. Please come back inside with me? We’re all waiting for you, so we can start dinner.”

He shuddered, wrapping his arms firmly around himself and ducking his head. “Not…really that hungry. Thanks though.”

“Lance.”

“Hunk, can you please just go?” Lance demanded, spinning around to glare at his friend, tears prickling his vision and feet almost slipping out from under him. Tiny sparks of terror fled through his veins but he pushed them down, pushed them away. “I’m _fine_.”

Hunk studied him for a long moment, arms lowering to his sides as he started stepping forwards, never wavering. “No you’re not. You say you’re fine, you always do. But I _know_ you, Lance. I’ve known you since before Voltron, before the Garrison even. And you want to tell me you’re fine?”

He stopped moving, about a foot away from Lance, and rubbed his jaw, eyes nervous. “I...I don’t know what’s wrong. And I won’t…I won’t ask if you don’t want me to. But you’re not okay, Lance. And I’m… _scared_.”

Lance hesitated, rubbing his fingers against the palms of his hands to keep Hunk from seeing how much they were shaking. “Of what?”

Hunk started to reach a hand out, hesitated, dropped it again. “Of…of losing you. I’m…”

His voice hitched and Lance felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest. His feet carried him the final foot and into Hunk’s arms, face buried into the bigger teen’s chest and solid, warm arms entwining themselves around him. Fingers dug into the back of his head and Lance could feel Hunk shaking under him. 

“Hunk, I’m-”

“You don’t have to say you’re sorry, Lance. I understand, okay? Don’t be sorry. It’s not…it’s not your fault.”

Lance nodded and pressed closer to his friend, feeling the comforting rumbles from Blue underneath them, her aura almost relieved now. He wondered if Hunk could feel it. His fingers gripped tighter into Hunk’s vest, face suddenly burning with tears as he struggled not to break entirely. 

“It’s okay,” Hunk murmured into his ear. “We don’t have to go in yet. It’s just me here, Lance.”

He nodded again. 

And he broke.


	12. Christmas

“Hey Coran?” Lance asked, sitting cross legged on the floor of the control room and pausing in the counting of his fingers. “Can you pull up what today is on Earth?”

“Certainly!”

Coran leaned over the keyboard in front of him as Lance pushed himself to his feet, standing ever so slightly behind him and trying to figure out what the hell Coran was typing. “Well…I don’t know much about your calendars, but here, let me bring it up for you,” the man answered. 

His fingers twisted and then a calendar was on the screen in front of Lance, a big red circle around the date on the page. Lance felt his stomach coil in anguish and he nodded, taking a trembling step back. “Okay. T-thanks, Coran. I…I thought so.”

He turned and bolted from the room before the Altean could ask what was wrong, brushing past Shiro on his way out. The black paladin looked after him in confusion before glancing back at Coran. “What’s wrong with Lance?”

The man shrugged, rubbing his chin thoughtfully and staring at the calendar. “Not sure. He was counting for a while, and then he asked me to pull up the date on Earth. Is it important?”

Shiro stepped closer and leaned in, and his heart sunk. “Yeah, it is.”

“Really now? What, is it his day of birth?”

“No,” Shiro answered, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead wearily. “It’s Christmas.”

~~~~~

“It’s Christmas?” Hunk yelped when Shiro told them, his eyes wide. “We’re missing _Christmas_?”

“Afraid so,” Shiro mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and glancing at the doorway. “Lance…isn’t taking it well.”

“Never took him for a Christmas nut,” Keith mused. 

Hunk scowled at the teenager, startling all of them with the ferocity in his eyes. “Christmas was the only time of year we could go home at the Garrison, Keith. And Lance is…really close with his family. It’s his favorite holiday, and he already misses them. Missing this holiday?”

He lowered his voice and softened his tone, pressing the palms of his hands together. “He’s probably a mess.”

“I don’t blame him,” Pidge murmured, drawing her knees to her chin. Her eyes sparked with something akin to sadness and she pressed her cheek to her knee so that she could look at everyone. “It sucks not being able to spend the holidays with your family.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Keith grumbled dryly.

Shiro winced and looked at Allura helplessly, pleading with her to help him. She stepped in graciously, hands clasped behind her back. “What _is_ Christmas, if I may ask?”

Hunk answered, looking between Keith and Pidge nervously. “It’s this time of year that a lot of people on Earth celebrate, where you get together with your family and friends and exchange gifts and eat really good food…it’s…it’s more complicated than that, but that’s the basics of it. The whole point of it is to be with people you love and care about.”

Allura hummed thoughtfully, glancing around the living area with a raised eyebrow. “Well…since it seems to be such an important holiday for you…why don’t you teach us how to celebrate it?”

“Pardon?”

She turned to Shiro in delight, clasping her hands together under her chin. “We’ll celebrate this ‘Christmas’ with you this year! I did want to learn more about Earth culture! What do you say?” she asked, turning to the other three. 

Pidge took a trembling breath and shook her head, lifting from the couch slowly. “Thanks but…no thanks. I don’t…I don’t really want to celebrate without my dad and Matt.”

She bolted from the room before anyone could say anything, and Allura looked at the remaining three pleadingly. Hunk relented first, shrugging and crossing his arms. “I’m in.”

“Wait a second,” Keith interjected, glaring at him. “You’re away from your family too, why are you so calm?”

Hunk pursed his lips and dropped his arms. “I don’t…my family and I don’t get along all that great. They’re not…let’s just say my grandmother is the main reason I still go home for family gatherings. But we’re here, we’re together, and two of our team members are having a really terrible day. It’s the least we can do to try and make it better.”

Shiro nodded. “Hunk’s right. I’m in too.”

Keith sighed and looked at Allura. “Yeah, okay. I have nothing else to do.”

“Wonderful!”

Allura spun to Coran, a smile practically splitting her face apart. “Coran, can you please bring up a listing of things that Earthlings use for Christmas? I’m sure we could find many things we need on this planet.”

Coran nodded his head and, ignoring the protests of the paladins behind him, pulled up a list of items. “A tree, some lights, food, snow? Seems simple. Whatever snow is. All right, I’ll take care of the food-”

“Nope, nope, no, no, no,” Hunk interrupted instantly, holding up a hand. “I’ll take care of the food, seeing as I’m the one who actually knows what it’s supposed to taste like. Shiro, you and Allura can find and set up a tree, Keith if you could try and make some fake snow? And Coran, can you fabricate some lights and tinsel to hang up?”

Coran saluted Hunk cheerfully. “Absolutely!”

Keith glanced towards the hallway, teeth worrying at his lower lip. “What about Pidge and Lance? Should we get them?”

Shiro shook his head, clapping Keith’s shoulder gently under his hand. “We should leave them alone for right now. Besides, I’m sure they’re not alone.”

~~~~~

Pidge had, in fact, found herself standing in front of Lance’s door after leaving the others, her fist poised to knock for almost a solid minute before she could actually get up the courage to hit the door. Lance had opened it silently, eyes glinting with understanding as he let Pidge into his room and curled her into a hug. 

She’d never admit it to him, or to anyone, really, but Lance reminded her a lot of Matt: the way he joked around all the time, his hidden intelligence, the way he stood up for other people. So even though she was embarrassed by it, she let Lance pull her into the hug and eventually they curled up together on the bed, Lance resting with his chin on the top of Pidge’s head while she buried her face into his neck. 

“You speak of this to no one,” she grumbled, fingers tightening their hold on his shirt. 

Lance smiled sadly at the crack in her voice and tugged her closer, his hand rubbing soothing circles over her back. “Or what?”

She shifted so that she wasn’t leaning her full weight against him and shut her eyes, trying to remember the last time she had hugged someone. “Or I’ll kick your butt, that’s what.”

Lance chuckled and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes and relaxing for the first time in weeks. “I have no doubt about that.”

Her breath hitched and Lance winced as he felt the collar of his shirt grow damp. He tightened his hold on her and shifted downwards so that he was able to rest his temple on the top of her head. “Hey. Pidge. It’s okay. I understand.”

“I know.”

~~~~~

“Okay, so I got that meat thing to taste as close to ham as possible and- whoa…um, Coran? What are you doing?”

“Hanging lights!”

“I see that.”

Coran looked down at Hunk gleefully from his place on a ladder fifteen feet above the ground. The room was absolutely covered in lights, strung over the doorways and across the ceiling and windows. They were nearly blinding, especially due to the silvery tinsel the man had hung alongside them. “What do you think?”

Hunk looked over at Shiro in disbelief, getting a weak grin in return. He and Allura had found a tree that looked incredibly similar to a pine tree, save for the leafier foliage on it, and had been making ornaments to hang on the branches. On top rested what Hunk hope wasn’t a literal star, and he turned to see Keith in the other corner of the room, hard at work mixing together the fake snow. “Soooo we’re almost done?” he asked. 

“Just about,” Keith answered, reaching into his bucket and pulling out a handful of the snow. It molded in his hands easily and he tossed it into the air, smiling slightly as it drifted down around him, settling into his hair. “Want me to go get them?”

“Sure,” Hunk said, watching with a sharp eye as Coran hopped down from the ladder. “Food’ll be ready in a few ticks.”

Keith took a second to instruct Coran on how to spread the fake snow and then ventured off into the hallway, practically running to Lance’s room. He wasn’t sure when he had become so excited, but somewhere in between making the snow and helping Shiro and Allura with the ornaments, he had started to feel like a kid again. Now all he wanted was to cheer up his fellow paladins. 

“Lance? Pidge?” he called softly, tapping on the door. “Can you come out please?”

There was a moment of silence and then the door slid open, two weary looking teenagers peeking out at him. Lance had a protective hand on Pidge’s shoulder, and both of their eyes were slightly bloodshot, making Keith wince. “Is that…snow in your hair?”

Keith hesitated, not sure how to respond. “We…I…we wanted to…do something for you guys. So um…could you come to the main room? Please?”

Pidge leaned out the doorway and looked around him warily. Her nose twitched and she glanced up at Keith, an eyebrow cocked. “Is that…Hunk’s cooking I smell?”

Keith grinned and nodded and Pidge turned to Lance, reaching up and squeezing his hand. “Thanks, Lance.”

He nodded and she sprinted off in the direction of food, leaving Lance to look over at Keith with a frown. “Didn’t think you’d be one for celebrating Christmas,” he commented. 

Keith shrugged, stepping aside to let Lance out of his room. “I’m really not. I uh…never really had anyone to celebrate with.”

Lance jolted a little at that and stared at Keith for a second, eyebrows pinched. “Really?”

When Keith shrugged, Lance shook his head. “I’m…sorry. That stinks, not having somebody to spend the holidays with.”

“I do now, though.”

Lance raised an eyebrow and gave Keith a sideways grin, and the red paladin shoved him, a smile playing on his lips. “Shut up, Lance.”

They stepped into the main room and Lance froze in place, jaw falling as he stared over the lights and the tree, the snow that had been spread around the base of it. Pidge was already throwing snowballs at Hunk, laughter bubbling from her lips, and Allura and Coran were standing off to the side watching in amusement while Shiro attempted to make a snowman. 

“You…you guys did…all of this?” Lance asked in disbelief. 

Keith nodded and in seconds found himself engulfed in a hug, Lance’s nose buried into the crook of his neck. “Thank you.”

“Group hug!”

The comment came from Pidge, amazingly, and before anyone could protest she had leapt onto Lance’s back and wrapped her arms around him and Keith, preventing them from moving from their position. Lance laughed and twisted just enough so that he could breathe, lifting one arm to hook around Pidge’s leg and keep her steady. He glanced up at from where his cheek rested on Keith’s shoulder and squeaked as Shiro curled a gentle arm around Keith’s torso, giving him a side squeeze. Hunk finished it off by coming around behind all of them and wrapping his arms tightly around everyone, successfully trapping the group in one big bear hug. 

“Is this…traditional?” Allura asked after a moment. 

“Nope!” Lance managed to get out. 

She shook her head, eyes sparkling in delight, and wished she had some kind of camera to capture the moment. Instead, Coran popped up from behind her, hands clasped pleadingly. “Can we please eat, Hunk? It smells marvelous in there!”

Hunk was gone in a moment, followed closely by Pidge, in an attempt to keep Coran from snacking on his hard work. Shiro left as well, to escort Allura into the dining area and explain how all the food worked, and Lance was finally able to let go of Keith and straighten up. They headed for the kitchen together.

“Thank you,” Lance said again. 

“Thank _you_.”

Lance looked over at Keith in confusion. “What for? You guys did all of this.”

Keith shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets and averting his eyes from the clusters of lights and Lance’s face. “I was never really into the holidays.”

They stopped at the entrance to the dining room, watching as Pidge sat eagerly at the table, waiting for food, Hunk chased Coran around the kitchen with a spoon, and Shiro and Allura snuck around behind them to steal treats. “It’s…more fun than I thought it could be.”

Lance grinned and reached out, squeezing Keith’s hand on a whim. “You’re welcome. Merry Christmas, Keith.”

Keith flushed and squeezed back. “Merry Christmas, Lance.”


	13. Sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild warning for mentions of puking. Nothing graphic.

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for someone on board the castle ship to sneeze and learn that they were allergic to some weird alien product. Pidge had discovered within the first week on board that she would break out in hives if she used Altean shampoo, which was resolved by landing on a planet and buying a year’s supply of different shampoo. Hunk discovered that Coran’s mustache wax made him itchy if he came into contact with it. 

But when Keith sneezed seven times in a row and then proceeded to hack his lungs out for a solid minute, everyone whipped around in surprise. 

“What are _you_ allergic to?” Hunk groaned in exasperation. Every time they discovered a paladin was allergic to something (or Allura, for that matter, who had learned that Earth’s cotton did not agree with her skin after a mishap with the laundry), they had to take extra precautions to keeping it away from said paladin. 

Keith moaned miserably and plopped his head into his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. “I don’t know,” he grumbled, staring at the ground like it had personally offended him. “I’m not even _near_ anything unusual.”

“Seriously?” Lance managed to laugh. “Dude, that was so not an allergic reaction.”

Keith shot Lance a suspicious look. “What?”

“Have you ever been sick?” Pidge asked, a small smile forming at the corners of her lips. 

Keith groaned again and sank back in his seat, thumping his head against the chair. “You’re kidding me,” he muttered, pressing his hands to his face and then proceeding to sneeze three more times. “I _never_ get sick!”

Shiro rolled his eyes and moved over to Keith, pressing his human hand against his forehead tentatively. “You’re definitely running a fever,” he confirmed. “Come on, you’re going to bed.”

Allura, standing at the control panel, pressed her lips together. “How long do Earth illnesses typically last?” she questioned. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but we cannot go too long without Voltron.”

Lance stood up and made his way over to help Shiro with Keith’s weary form. “They’re usually pretty quick,” he mused, giving Keith a once over. “If it’s just a cold, it should pass in a day or two.”

At the incredulous looks from the others, Lance offered a shrug. “I have six brothers and sisters. I know what sickness looks like. And honestly, I’m probably the least likely one to get sick from Mr. Germs here, so I should probably deal with his sick butt.”

“It’s true,” Hunk piped up. “I’ve known Lance for three years and he’s never been sick once, even when I came down with the flu.”

Shiro reluctantly handed Keith over to Lance, who slung the Red Paladin’s arm around his shoulders despite his protests. “Don’t worry, Keith my man. I’ll have you better in no time!”

They trudged out of the room, Keith throwing a desperate look over his shoulder at the other paladin’s and mouthing out “Help me.”

“Think he’ll kill him?” Pidge mused, crossing her ankles and watching the two leave. 

Shiro shrugged in response, shooting her a grin. “That, or he’ll become delirious. Keith is…interesting when he’s sick, to say the least.”

A wicked smile crossed Pidge’s face. “Oh, this’ll be good.”

~~~~~

Lance managed to get Keith to his room with no problems, though he was worried about how hot Keith had gotten in the amount of time it had taken them to get there. He was roasting when Lance got him seated on his bed, face pink and breathing raspy. “Probably more than a cold,” he muttered, helping Keith pull off his weapons. “I hope it’s not some alien cold.”

Keith snorted and dropped his head back into his hands, body shuddering. “I feel like shit,” he said to the floor. 

Lance winced and stepped back, setting Keith’s knife on the bedside table. “Can you get your shoes off, so you can nap?”

Keith squinted down at the offending boots and leaned over, fingers shaking as he unlaced the left one and struggled to pull it off. He didn’t know what was wrong with him; he had felt fine a mere hour ago. He was starting to think Lance might be right about the alien cold, because no Earth illness had ever hit him this hard or fast. 

He didn’t realize he had been shaking so badly until Lance’s hands covered his, forcing them to stop. Lance hissed. “Dude, you’re _freezing_!” 

Keith didn’t feel cold. He felt like the room was inside of a volcano, like Lance’s hands were icebergs, and like his throat was going to melt. “S-Sorry.”

Lance looked up at him in concern and, to Keith’s humiliation, continued unlacing his boot for him. He decided not to protest, mostly because he was worried that Lance might yell at him and _wow_ his head hurt, so he leaned against his hands again and zoned out, the room going dark around him. 

He came to seconds later to find Lance with both hands on his shoulders, pressing him back onto the bed. His feet were strangely light, and when he lifted one, he found that it was bootless and sockless. He wrinkled his nose. “You took my socks off?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yes, stupid. Your feet and your neck are what warm you up fastest when you’re cold, and what cool you down fastest when you’re hot. You’re at a weird in between right now. Plus, I’ve touched grosser things than your dumb socks.”

Keith huffed and flopped down against the pillow. Bad idea. 

The entire room swum at the sudden movement and he groaned, hands flying to his mouth and body clenching. Lance, almost like he was reading his mind, whirled around- _too fast_ \- and spun back with his trash can, holding it at the side of the bed and pulling at Keith’s arm. The paladin twisted in the bed and promptly puked into the bucket, eyes stinging with tears and body shivering violently.

“Jesus,” he could hear Lance whisper, a cold hand running across his back. “This is…way worse than a cold. I’m gonna go get Coran, okay Keith?”

Keith _whimpered,_ much to his humiliation, but he nodded, the room swirling again. Lance pressed the trash can into his hands until he had a firm grip on it, promised he would be back, and then left Keith alone, his footsteps pounding their way into Keith’s head and causing a serious migraine. 

By the time Lance got back, Keith was leaning against the wall behind his bed with the bucket sitting between his legs, hair damp across his forehead and body shaking. Coran winced at the sight of him and gave him a once over. 

“Keith?” the man tried softly. “Can you tell me how you feel?”

“D-Dizzy,” he managed to choke out. “I’m…really hot, too. Or cold. I don’t…I don’t know.”

“This isn’t a normal Earth cold,” Lance said. “I’d say the flu, but none of us have had it recently. Is there an alien illness that resembles this?”

Coran tugged on his mustache and nodded. “Yes…I do believe that this is our version of a cold, though I’ve never seen it interact with an Earthling. We call it the Elsin Disease. Typically passes in a day or two, but it really hits hard when you have it. Most important thing is to keep him warm and hydrated.”

Keith frowned, blinking feverishly at the man. “But I’m _hot_.”

Coran shook his head. “You feel that way, but your body temperature is lower than usual. At least, I presume it is. We have a thermometer around here somewhere, I’ll go find it.”

“Thanks Coran.”

The older man left and Lance delicately took the bucket from Keith’s shaking hands. “Will you be okay alone for a second?” he asked softly. “I’m just gonna clean this out and get you some water.”

Keith internally shrieked in embarrassment as his lower lip quivered. “Y-You don’t h-have to clean it, L-Lance.”

Lance cursed and pushed Keith back down onto the bed, pulling his blankets up to Keith’s shoulders. “Dude, your lips are turning blue. Stay there,” he ordered, voice firm. “I’ll be back in a minute, okay?”

Keith gave him a single nod, all he could manage without throwing up again, and passed out the moment Lance left the room. When he came to again, the bucket was next to the bed, freshly cleaned, along with a tall glass of water that looked like heaven in space. Lance sat curled up in the corner, a throw blanket pulled up to his chest and his cheek on his shoulder, snoring softly. 

Keith gave a small smile and grabbed for the glass of water as carefully as possible. His fingers shook as he lifted it- why was it so _heavy?_ \- and the glass promptly shattered against the floor. Lance jolted awake as Keith frantically got out of bed, struggling to clean it up and cutting his hands in the process. 

“Whoa, whoa, dude!” Lance yelped, sliding over and pulling Keith’s hands away. “Hey. Man, it’s okay. Breathe. I got it.”

Keith quivered and sank backwards against the bed, pressing his hands to his forehead and curling his fingers into his hair. He felt so _emotional_ , and he decided then and there that he would take the Earth’s flu over this space bug. “I’m s-sorry, Lance.”

Lance looked up from the floor with wide eyes. “What? Dude, it’s fine. It’s just a glass of water.”

“N-No, I-I mean you’re…you’re b-being so _nice_ right now, and I’m j-just always a j-jerk.”

He didn’t know if he was stammering because he was crying or because of how cold he was, but he realized with a start that he was wearing only his boxers and a t-shirt, and his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. 

Lance just stared at him, his eyes flickering up to Keith’s forehead after a moment. He winced. “Dude, you have blood all over you. Come on, I’ll call Pidge to come clean up the glass.”

He took Keith by the elbow and Keith recoiled to find that his skin was now ice cold and Lance’s felt like fire. Lance pulled back and led him to the bathroom carefully, pressing what looked like a communicator- where had he gotten that? - on the side of his ear. “Pidge? Can you bring a broom to Keith’s room? A glass broke…thanks Pidge.”

Lance leaned over to turn on the sink faucet and Keith frowned. “What is that?”

The Blue Paladin glanced up in surprise. “What, this?” he asked, pointing to his ear. “Allura gave it to me so I wouldn’t have to leave you alone unless it was absolutely necessary. You almost choked, dude.”

Keith felt dizzy all of a sudden and then Lance was there, hands on his arms and guiding him to sit down on the edge of the tub, eyes concerned. “I almost ch-choked?”

Lance grimaced and rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Yeah. When I left to get water, and then came back…it’s kinda gross, I don’t know if you want me to describe it.”

Keith’s stomach rolled and he decided that no, he did not want Lance to describe his near death. He shook his head slowly and Lance squeezed his arms, turning back around to dunk a washrag into the warm running water that was slowly fogging up the bottom of the mirror. He knelt again, nearly between Keith’s knees, and lifted a hand to swipe the blood from Keith’s forehead. His tongue stuck from the corner of his mouth as he did so, and Keith, in his delirium, found that he kind of wanted to poke it. He clasped his shaking hands together in his lap and shut his eyes firmly, struggling to breathe normally. 

“Keith?”

Careful hands hovered over his, slender fingers curling around his wrists and pulling his palms apart. Warm water slid over the cut on his right hand and Keith hissed, fighting back tears and nausea. Lance paused for a moment, giving him time to recover, and then repeated the movement, picking out a shard of glass that Keith hadn’t even felt there before. 

His head spun and he blanked again, coming to when Lance’s now freezing hands cupped either side of his head. “Hey, man,” he whispered, his voice incredibly low, like he knew that Keith’s head felt like a cavern of echoing noises. “Pidge is done cleaning up, and Hunk made you some soup. Can you eat?”

Keith’s stomach turned again and he shuddered at the thought of eating, despite the warmth that filled him at the idea of Hunk making food for him. “Thanks,” he croaked. “B-But I c-can’t.”

Lance nodded knowingly and slid his hands down to Keith’s biceps, gently pulling him off the tub. Keith realized with a start that his right hand had been bandaged; he hadn’t even felt that happen. He stayed quiet as Lance led him back to his room and into his bed, taking the steaming bowl of soup from the nightstand and leaning into the hall, saying something to who Keith assumed was Hunk. 

He returned empty handed and Keith felt a flood of guilt at having turned down Hunk’s kindness. He shivered against the bed sheets, fingers clenching in the blankets so hard that his knuckles turned white, and Lance cursed. “Your lips are turning blue again,” he muttered, looking towards the door. “I can get Shiro to bring you more blank-”

“Lance.”

He glanced up at Keith, who looked beyond lost and tired, at his outstretched hand, and Lance instantly moved over to the bed and knelt, tugging the covers up a little more against the chill of the room. “What’s up, buddy?”

Keith swallowed, sure that his face was beet red. “C-Can you…um…I…”

He shivered again and held open the blanket just enough for Lance to get the hint, body turning into ice at the movement. Lance’s face filled with surprise but he nodded, kicking his shoes off and setting the ear piece down next to the bed before crawling in alongside Keith, his back to the wall. “Which side?” he asked softly, very aware that putting his hands in the wrong spot might make Keith puke again. 

Keith trembled and pulled him down without a word, latching onto him and pressing his face into the crook of his neck, body slowly relaxing against Lance. Though startled, Lance obediently curled an arm over Keith’s hip, careful about how fast he moved, and tucked his other arm up in between their chests. “Let me know if you get too hot, or need to throw up, okay man?”

Keith mumbled something incoherent into Lance’s shoulder and Lance couldn’t help but smile, leaning his temple against the top of Keith’s head and stroking his upper back with his thumb. He dozed a little, waking up every time Keith shifted. 

At one point, Allura popped her head in, looking concerned, and Lance lifted his gaze to her and gave her a reassuring nod. The Princess smiled, a twinkle in her eyes, and backed out of the room after leaving a fresh glass of water on the table top. 

hen Keith woke up again, feeling somewhat less like death, Lance had fallen asleep completely, face relaxed and arms entwined around Keith’s body. The Red Paladin swallowed hard, staring down at Lance with so much embarrassment that he thought his face would burst into flames. He didn’t remember asking Lance to sleep with him, but he knew that Lance wouldn’t do something like that without permission.

Keith groaned internally and lifted a hand to press it to his forehead, eyes alighting on his bandaged palm. He gave a faint smile and looked back at Lance fondly. With little hesitation, he wrapped his arm back around him and tucked his face into his chest, taking a shuddering breath. 

“Thank you,” he mumbled, not really expecting a response. 

Lance’s fingers twitched against his back and Keith jumped at the response that was whispered into his hair. “Any time.”

Keith blushed and tugged Lance closer, ignoring how warm he was in favor of breathing in the smell of laundry detergent that permeated from Lance’s shirt, lulling him back to sleep. 

And when Lance came down with the same illness barely a week later, Keith was absolutely at his side with a bucket and a glass of water.


	14. Jail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aka the klance jail cell fic no one asked me for.

Of all the things- of _all the things_ Keith had expected to happen while he was piloting a sentient lion robot around the voids of space, he had _never_ expected to get locked in an intergalactic jail cell with Lance. 

Scratch that; Lance was so incredibly stubborn and hot headed that maybe Keith should have seen it coming. The Lance part, anyway. Him being in the jail cell? Well…it was less expected than Lance, but if Keith were to admit it to himself, probably just as possible. 

“This is all your fault, you know,” Lance grumbled. He was sitting on the only bunk in the room, leaning against the concrete wall behind him with his arms crossed grumpily over his chest. 

“ _My_ fault?”

Lance scoffed, looking up, and Keith was struck with the realization that Lance actually managed to pull off prison orange a little too well. “Um, yeah. Your fault.”

“You _shot_ one of the queens dogs!”

“That thing was _not_ a dog! It was like fifty feet tall with dinosaur spines! And it was blue! Excuse me for thinking I was about to get mauled by some beast! Besides, _you’re_ the one who got snippy with the queen while I was trying to apologize!”

Keith scowled and leaned against the wall, facing away from Lance. “Yeah, well…we came here on a mission and it was taking too long.”

“If you had just let me apologize we would have been back in Blue and headed for the castle, no problem.”

He was right, Keith realized in irritation. If he had just let Lance continue with his heartfelt, though incredibly long apology, neither of them would be in this mess. Of course, of _course_ he had to let his anger get the best of him. Shiro was right to be worried about his potential as a leader. 

His chest tightened at the thought of the missing paladin. Shiro was the reason he and Lance were here in the first place. The queen of the ice planet they had landed on, Hyperborea, which, Pidge had informed him, was literally a Greek word that meant cold giants (how did they know Greek in deep space?), had contacted the ship, saying that she had information on their missing black paladin. Because he was acting leader, and Lance’s lion was the only one able to stand the frigid temperatures, it had been a no brainer to send the two of them.

They hadn’t expected everyone on the planet to literally be giants. Or for the queen to have one of the gigantic, four legged, blue animals as a pet.

“You’re right,” he finally said, breath frosting a little in the confines of the cell. “I’m sorry.”

Lance sat up so fast that Keith was afraid he would fall off the bench. “Wait, what? Did you just _apologize_ to me?”

Keith gave a thin, humorless smile. “Contrary to popular belief, Lance, I can admit when I’m wrong.”

“Did you just make a self-deprecating joke? Who are you and what have you done with Keith?”

He snorted and leaned his head on the bars of the cell. They had been allowed one phone call, so Keith had promptly phoned Pidge and, after getting her to stop laughing, had sent her their coordinates so that she and Hunk could come bail them out. They didn’t know how long it would take, but every second that ticked by was another second they weren’t finding Shiro, another second that the trail went cold. 

“Keith?”

How long had Lance been calling his name? When he turned, Lance was just next to him, a curious look on his face. “What?”

Lance pointed to the hand that was holding the bar. “Uh…your knuckles are turning white.” He frowned and tilted his head. “And your lips are turning blue-ish.”

“What?”

Sure enough, he realized that he had been gripping the bar of the cell so hard that his hands tingled when he pulled them away. And he was confused about the lip comment until he realized he could see his breath completely now. He scowled. Stupid Hyperborea prisons. 

“It’s freezing in here,” he muttered. “Of course my lips are turning blue.”

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. “No it’s not.”

His breath came out in puffs and Keith gestured triumphantly at them. Lance shook his head. “No…I mean, I’m not cold. Like at all.”

Keith let go of the bar, realizing that it was getting colder, and he gave Lance a once over. “How are you not cold? It takes a lot to get me cold, but I’m _freezing.”_

Lance looked like he had no idea, but after a moment his eyes lit up. “They let us keep the underwear of the suits on, remember? Mine must keep me from getting cold. But since yours is supposed to keep you from getting hot, it’s probably doing nothing.”

That…was actually a smart realization. Keith scowled and hugged himself, glancing out the door. Hunk and Pidge couldn’t get there soon enough. 

Lance leaned against the wall next to him, fiddling with the cuffs of the orange jumpsuit they had both been forced into, and Keith swallowed. How could someone look stunning in prison garb? It made literally zero sense. And yet somehow Lance pulled it off as well as he did blue. When Keith realized that the paladin was rolling his sleeves up to the elbow, exposing the white sleeves of their undergarments, his mouth went dry and he looked away again. 

Of all the paladins he had to get a crush on, why did it have to be Lance?

“Keith?”

He jolted, looking over at Lance to find the paladin watching him with concern. “Dude, you’re shivering.”

Huh. So he was. 

“Quiznak.”

Before Keith could scold him, teasingly, for swearing, Lance was gripping the bars and leaning into the hallway as best he could. “Yo! Guard man! It’s like a freezer in here, you mind turning off the AC?”

Keith wanted to protest, tell Lance to shut up, say that they just had to wait for Hunk and Pidge, that they didn’t need any more trouble, but he couldn’t. Instead, his legs quivered and he sank to the floor, suddenly _very_ aware of how cold he was. It felt like someone had taken his whole body, dunked it in a river in the middle of winter, and then left him in the snow to die. 

“Keith!”

Lance was next to him, he realized, hands holding either side of his face in concern and _wow_ he was warm. Keith leaned into the touch, knowing he’d be embarrassed later but too cold to care at the moment. Lance gave him a once over and nodded like he had figured something out, and the next thing Keith knew, he was sitting in Lance’s lap with Lance’s arms around him and if he wasn’t blushing before he was definitely blushing now. 

“It’ll be all good,” Lance promised, his voice bright but his eyes nervous. “Pidge said they’d only be thirty ticks, and it’s definitely been that long, so we don’t have to sit around here for much longer.”

Keith shuddered and nodded, curling his fingers into Lance’s jumpsuit and trying to pull the warmth straight from the blue paladin’s body. He had never been so cold, and at some point he realized that he had stopped shivering. He didn’t know if it was good that he had, if that meant Lance had warmed him up enough, or if it was bad, if it meant he was too cold to be cold. 

Lance didn’t let go regardless, arms firm around Keith and humming a soft song in the back of his throat. His hand rubbed over Keith’s shoulder at a constant pace, warming it just a little, but even with the added heat, Keith still found that there was a blackness slipping over the edges of his vision.

“L-Lance.”

Lance stopped humming and looked down at him. “S’up buddy?”

He shook his head, fingers shaking. “I c-can’t…I’m g-going to p-pass o-out.”

Lance cursed again and curled Keith in closer, the hand moving faster to generate more warmth, and then Lance was slipping out of the top of his prison uniform as best he could, unzipped to his waist, and was using it to wrap Keith up a little more. It was a comforting thought, a warm thought, but it didn’t really work. 

Within moments, his vision was totally gone and his consciousness went with it. 

~~~~~

When Keith came to again, he was stumbling out a healing pod, Lance watching him nervously and Pidge hovering over the control panel. Hunk, Allura, and Coran were nowhere in sight, nor were any of the Galra soldiers, so he focused his attention on Lance. “What happened?” he asked, rubbing an eye wearily. 

Lance glanced over at Pidge and they seemed to hold a silent conversation, Pidge nodding and leaving after only a moment. “You passed out. Had a mild case of hypothermia when we got you back here.”

Keith struggled to remember. He had been in the jail cell, then on the floor, and then…

He flushed and glanced up at Lance, who was equally red. “You…thank you.”

Lance gave him a weak grin. “Of course. Wasn’t gonna let you freeze to death, you dummy.”

Keith nodded, shifting from foot to foot, and played with the hem of his shirt. “Yeah, well…you wouldn’t have been in the situation if I hadn’t provoked the queen.”

“Dude, I shot her dog thing. It’s mostly my fault.”

The queen. 

Keith’s head shot up and he grabbed Lance by the shoulders. “Did she tell us anything before we left? About…about Shiro?”

Lance frowned, looking almost disappointed, but nodded. “Yeah. She only knows which quadrant they were taking him to. But it’s a start.”

“Who’s they?” Keith asked in confusion. 

Lance rolled his eyes. “Wouldn’t tell us. Said she gave us enough for the trouble we caused. We assume the Galra, or Haggar, but we can’t be sure.”

Keith nodded and, before he could stop himself, wrapped Lance in a tight hug. “Thanks. For not…letting me die, I mean.”

Lance hugged back, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down Keith’s spine. “Um, duh. Can’t let our acting leader freeze his ass to death, no matter how much I don’t like you being in charge.”

Keith managed a weak laugh. “Am I really that bad?”

Lance pulled away, still holding Keith’s shoulders. A smile glinted in his eyes and on his lips. “Nah. A little hot headed, but that’s to be expected. You’re doing a good job. Shiro…Shiro would be proud of you.”

The compliment made his throat clog with tears and he nodded numbly, feeling like the world was slowly adding more weight onto his shoulders. “I almost died,” he realized softly. “Because I was acting so _stupid.”_

“Normally I wouldn’t disagree,” Lance murmured, lowering his gaze and squeezing Keith’s shoulders. “But you were desperate. You wanted answers. I can’t…I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same.”

“I could have gotten you killed,” Keith said suddenly, eyes flicking up to Lance’s and heart skipping. “What kind of leader-?”

“Hey.”

Lance pulled him closer, hands sliding up and down his biceps gently and leaving behind a stinging heat that made Keith realize he was still a little chilly. “Don’t doubt yourself,” Lance scolded gently. “It’ll only make you doubt your decisions in battle, and that’s not good for any of us.”

Keith felt his breath hitch at the proximity, at the words, the wisdom coming from Lance’s lips, and he shuddered. “You’re right.”

Lance gave him a grin. “Wow, twice in one day? Keith, maybe you _did_ die and this is some holographic projection or figment of my imagination that I’m talking to.”

Keith laughed, really laughed at that, and lifted his hands with minimal hesitation, pressing them to Lance’s chest and tilting his chin up just a little. “Yeah, well…with your imagination, I wouldn’t doubt it.”

Lance’s cheeks were beet red, but the smile remained on his face. “Oh yeah? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Keith swallowed, searching Lance’s eyes, and cocked his head. “Figure it out, dumbass.”

The grin widened and Lance leaned down ever so slightly, catching Keith’s mouth in his and lifting a hand from his shoulder to thread it through the hair on the back of his neck. Warmth flooded through Keith almost instantly and he chuckled against Lance, sliding his hands the rest of the way up his chest and looping his arms around his neck. He pulled back, flushed, and leaned his forehead on Lance’s. “You’re not as dumb as I thought,” he teased. 

Lance swatted his head, though he was still grinning. “Shut up, stupid. You ready to go see if this lead takes us anywhere?”

Keith pressed his lips against Lance’s again, barely a whisper, and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go get our leader back. And maybe not get thrown in jail this time, huh Lance?”

“Still your fault.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”


	15. Falter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Hospital Roommate AU that again, no one asked for. I am not a medical expert so literally nothing in here is 100 percent factual. Trigger Warnings for character death (mentioned, nothing graphic) and blood (also nothing graphic)

Keith _hated_ his hospital roommate.

The guy never shut up, had like thirty different family members and friends that visited him regularly, and was the most vain person that Keith had ever had the displeasure of meeting. He kept a mirror on his bedside table, constantly flirted with the nurses that came in to check on him throughout the day (both male and female, Keith noted), and was constantly running his fingers through his hair and over his face.

If Keith hadn't been almost paralyzed from the waist down, he might have kicked this guy in the dick. He still considered punching him every time he got up, though.

His name was Lance, and he had yet to tell Keith why he was in the hospital. Keith didn't really care either way, considering that once he was able to start physical therapy he'd be out of Lance's life forever, but it was getting annoying having to put in his headphones at the most inopportune times just because this asshat didn't want him to hear about his special snowflake condition.

Keith pursed his lips, glancing over at the sleeping beauty, and returned to the unopened James Patterson novel lying in his lap. Honestly, it wasn't like he was going to criticize or make fun of Lance for whatever was wrong with him. Hell, he was one to talk. The only reason he was in the hospital was…

He shook his head, upper body shivering, and set the book aside, sinking lower against the pillows and grimacing as pain flared through his legs. He tried to be happy about the pain; it meant that he could still feel, still move eventually, still be functional. He might not ever get back into his running or karate, but it would be a small price if he could walk by himself.

He clicked off the reading light next to him and tucked his arms behind his head, staring through the dark at the ceiling. Lance's snores permeated the room, making Keith wrinkle his nose in disgust.

Snoring was one of his biggest pet peeves. He knew it was something most people couldn't control, but his whole life he had despised it. He had hit his father with many a pillow to stop him from snoring. Keith swallowed and glanced over to where the blinking lights of the hospital machinery lit up Lance's sleeping form.

He hated his roommate.

~~~~~

"Come on, we've been roomies for almost a whole week and you won't even tell me what you're in for?"

"You won't tell me either!" Keith snapped, his fingers tightening around his book as he struggled not to throw it at Lance's face. "So why should I bother telling you?"

Lance pouted, lower lip puffing out in a way that was almost cute. "Because…well why not?"

Keith shot him a glare that would have withered a grown sumo wrestler. "Because it's none of your business is why. Why don't you tell me what's up with you?"

Lance's face fell and he turned away, fingers once again gliding through flawless hair. "Never mind, then."

Keith huffed and buried his nose back into the book, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. An uncomfortable silence fell between them, as if there was ever a comfortable silence between them, broken only by a nurse walking into the room. "Keith?" the nurse said tentatively, a grim look flickering in his eyes. "A Reverend Smythe is here to see you about-"

"No."

Lance whipped his head around to stare at him in disbelief. Keith might be kind of quiet, but he had never once heard him be anything aside from courteous and polite to the nurses. To hear such anger, such _denial,_ in his voice peaked Lance's curiosity.

"Keith, you know you need to-"

"Not here."

Lance deflated. Oh. Of course that was the reason he didn't want to talk about whatever the pastor was there for. He was there. He plastered a fake smile on his face and shot it at the nurse. "It's all good, doc. I'll just head down to the activity center."

He saw the wistful look cross over Keith's face and Lance couldn't help but frown as he climbed from bed, sliding his feet into his lion slippers that Hunk had brought for him and grabbing onto the IV stand. All he knew was that Keith couldn't walk very well. Why, Lance wasn't sure. He had never told him that part. Which meant he was stuck in the hospital bed all the time, and it was clear that the mullet hated it.

With the nurse at his side, he stepped out of the room, IV drip swinging, and passed the Reverend on the way out. The man was older, with a shocking orange mustache, and he looked very serious, a manila file in one hand that was thick with papers. Lance shot a look over his shoulder, a little worried all of a sudden, and then shook his head.

Wasn't his business. Besides, Keith hated him anyway.

~~~~~

"Coran, please, I can't…I can't _do this_ right now."

Keith hated crying with a passion, but he had known Coran almost his whole life, had been babysat by the man while he was still a toddler, so he was okay with breaking in front of him. The man was calm, patient, sitting on the edge of Keith's bed. He had put the manila envelope on the bed side table and was stroking one of Keith's hands with his thumb. "Keith, son, I know. But you…you're the only one who can do this, you know that. They entrusted only you with the distribution of the items in their wills."

Shaky purple eyes turned to stare at the envelope, packed full of his family's wills, and Keith felt like he couldn't breathe. The beeping from his machine went up just a little bit and he forced himself to calm down, to grip Coran's hand like there was nothing else that existed. "I'm…okay. Okay."

Coran studied him for a moment before opening the folder and tugging out the first one. "Here. None of them will be easy, but…"

He passed it over and Keith took one look at the name and burst into a fresh set of tears.

_Takashi Shirogane's Final Will and Testament._

He didn't remember Coran taking the paper away again, didn't know when he had started clutching at the man, one of the only people he had considered family that he had left, but it didn't matter. He hugged him with all the ferocity he could muster, fingers digging into his clerical uniform and tears soaking his collar. Coran rubbed his back soothingly, whispering soft nonsense words into his ear.

"I can't," he choked. "I'm sorry."

Coran nodded, pulling back and pressing a soft kiss to his scalp. "All right. It's okay. We can try again another day. I think…I think you'd be surprised if you read further, though. Would you like me to leave them here?"

Keith looked again at the closed folder, heart thudding wildly in his chest, and he shook his head. "I…no. No thank you Coran."

"All right. I'll come by tomorrow and check up on you, if that's okay? But you might get a visitor before then."

He winked and, before Keith could question what he meant, he was gone with a swish of his jacket.

Keith realized that he hadn't taken the envelope.

~~~~~

"Um, sir?"

Coran turned from where he was signing out at registration and looked down at the young man in front of him, vaguely recollecting that he was Keith's roommate, Chance or something odd like that. "Hello son. What can I do for you?"

The kid gnawed on his lower lip, fingers curling around the unit attached to his wrist. "Is…I know I shouldn't care, but is Keith okay?"

Coran pressed his lips into a thin line and glanced back to the room. "I don't feel I'm at liberty to say much if he hasn't said anything to you. Keith is…going through a tricky time. As you all are," he said quickly, giving the boy a once over. "Perhaps, even if he does not want it…perhaps try being friendly with him? He often comes off as uncaring, but is very much the opposite."

Chance or Stan or whatever his name was nodded thoughtfully, fingers tapping against metal and hair dusting over his eyes. "All right. Thank you, sir."

"Coran," he found himself saying, mustache curling upwards with his smile. "I'm available to you as well, if you'd ever like to speak."

"Lance," said the boy with a small smile. "Thank you, Coran."

~~~~~

"Get off your ass, we're going for a walk."

Keith looked up from the sentence he had just read six times without once comprehending it, staring at Lance like he couldn't possibly be so stupid. "Um…no?"

Lance, sitting on the edge of his bed, waved a hand dismissively. "Oh shut it, I know you can't walk. I don't care. We'll get a wheel chair in here. But you haven't been out of this bed _once_ since you've been here, except to shower, and we've been here for literally two weeks. So come on, let's go!"

Keith scowled and clutched his book tightly, looking back to the page and trying not to shake. "I said no, Lance."

"Keith."

The voice was softer this time and Keith, despite telling himself not to, glanced back over at him to find that Lance had adopted a puppy dog face. "What."

Lance tilted his head and batted his eyes and oh no that was adorable. "I know…I mean, I don't know what all happened. But I seriously want you to get out of here for a while, man."

Keith hesitated, biting his lip, and slowly set the book aside. "Okay," he agreed reluctantly. "Okay. Call the nurse on duty."

Allura showed up a few moments later, wheelchair in hands, and Keith internally groaned. This was the nurse that Lance felt the need to flirt with every waking hour. Sure, she didn't take his shit, always shot him down, but it got irritating.

Shiro would have liked her.

Keith choked at the thought and shook his head quickly, allowing Allura to wrap a strong arm under his shoulders and help him shuffle to the wheelchair. She detached him from his IV temporarily, clipping it to the portable one on the chair, and then kicked off the chair safety. "Ready, Lance?" she asked politely.

Lance bounced over, hand already around his IV pole, and grinned. "I'm always ready for you, babe."

Allura rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, instead pushing Keith out towards the hallway and into the rush of people wandering around. Lance happily skipped alongside them, face bright, and Keith couldn't help the slight flush that rose to his cheeks before he looked away. As much as he tried to hate Lance, his enthusiasm was kind of cute.

Allura wheeled him into the gathering room for the patients on their floor. Because both he and Lance were still technically minors, they were kept separate from the adult populous of the population, but they were also too old for the children's ward, so they had been set in a part of the hospital for teenagers. It was weird, and Keith got the feeling most hospitals didn't work that way, but he was glad that he didn't have to hang out with kids that were literally a decade and a half younger than him.

"I'll leave you boys here," Allura declared, pushing Keith up to a table and kicking his safety on. "Buzz me when you want to come back, or if you need something. And no, Lance, wanting my number doesn't count as needing something."

Lance smiled sheepishly and lowered his finger and Keith couldn't help the snort that spilled from his lips. Allura left and he glanced sideways as Lance plopped down next to him and grabbed a deck of cards from a basket on the table. "Why do you bother trying to flirt with her? She wouldn't go out with you in a million years. We're 17, for god's sake."

Lance fell silent, the smile flickering into something more serious as he spilled the deck into his hands and started shuffling. "Just…something to do, I guess. She knows I don't mean it. And if she was really uncomfortable with it, I would stop."

Keith had the feeling he was telling the truth about stopping. He watched as Lance curled his hands around the split deck, fingers nimbly snapping the deck together and then twisting to start again. His hands were gorgeous, Keith decided.

His face burned as he looked up to find Lance staring at him, and Keith's guard instantly raised. "What?"

"Blackjack or Poker?"

He blinked a couple times. "What?"

Lance waved the deck of cards in his face like Keith was a world class dunce. "Blackjack or Poker, dumbass."

"Oh." Keith ducked his head, fiddling with his hands and twisting them in the hem of his nightshirt. "Um…"

"Don't tell me. You don't know how to play."

Shiro had been going to teach him how to play during their vacation. But then…

Keith shook his head and clenched his hands together tightly, knuckles turning white. "No. Um…do we have to play cards?"

He didn't dare look up, for fear that Lance would see the tears in his eyes, but he could feel the pause between them and he knew that Lance was studying him. "I guess not. Everything okay?"

"Everything's _fine,"_ he snapped, lifting his hands to clutch the wheels of the chair and pulling the handle off the brake. "I'm just tired."

There was a small "snap" and Keith glanced up to see Lance setting the cards back into the basket, fingers trembling almost unnoticeably. "Okay. Should I call Allura, then?"

Keith nodded, something swelling in his chest at the sincerity in Lance's voice. The teen got up, tugging his IV with him to the call button, and hit it gently. It was then that Keith noticed how much he was actually shaking, how pale his body had gotten, and something like fear flooded his veins. "Lance, are you-?"

He hit the floor hard, and the first thing Keith was aware of was that his fall had caused his IV to be ripped out. The second thing he was aware of was the nurse that kept watch over the room running to Lance's side and turning him over, the boy's body quivering under her touch. The third thing he was aware of was Allura coming in, kneeling next to Lance and putting a square of gauze over the small pinpoint of blood that was oozing from Lance's hand.

And then the other nurse was wheeling him out and he wasn't aware of anything except how much his heart was pounding.

~~~~~

When he woke up again, the room was dark and there was a small shape curled up in the chair next to his bed. His first instinct was to yell, but he stayed silent, glancing over to Lance's bed to find that it was still empty. His heart sank, and he turned back to the shape, reaching a hand up and turning on the reading light over his bed.

It illuminated short, cropped hair and wire glasses that were sliding down what Keith teased as a pixie nose, and he relaxed. "Pidge. Wake up."

Pidge jolted at his voice and nearly fell out of her chair in the haste to stand. "You're awake!" she yelped, as if it wasn't obvious. "When I got here, they said there was an accident in the common room and I was super nervous but then I found out it was your roommate and you were panicking so they gave you a sedative so I've just been sitting here for like two hours you asshole!"

Keith couldn't help but smile. "You done?"

Pidge crossed her arms and huffed. "Yes, you smart ass."

"Your uncle wouldn't like hearing you swear, you know," he teased.

"Uncle Coran can go suck a-"

A throat cleared and the two glanced at the door to see Allura standing there, a disapproving but amused look on her face. "I'm going to need you two to quiet down for a bit, all right? We're bringing Lance back in, and he needs some sleep."

"Is he okay?" Keith found himself asking.

Allura smiled at his concern and nodded. "He'll be all right. He…wasn't hydrated and was overexerting his body."

Overexerting? They hadn't _done_ anything. Keith knew he didn't know the full story, though, so he just nodded and waited for Allura to leave before looking back to Pidge, only to find her watching him curiously. "What?"

"Do you like him?"

Keith frowned. "Who?"

"Your roommate, stupid, who else?"

Keith was glad it was somewhat dark, because he was certain his cheeks were bright red. "No way. He's an arrogant asshole. Wait…what are you doing here, anyway?"

Pidge rolled her eyes, meaning she saw right through Keith's diversion, but indulged him. "What, childhood best friend can't come annoy the shit out of your dumb mullet?"

Keith scowled and reached out, punching her lightly in the shoulder. Pidge grinned and shoved her glasses up her nose, eyes softening. "But seriously. I've been worried about you. I-"

They were interrupted yet again as Allura and two other nurses and one doctor, who Keith recognized as Lance's main physician, came in, wheeling a gurney. Lance was out cold on it, color gone from his cheeks, and the way his head was slumped, the way his body drooped when he was lifted into his real bed, the rough breathing that fell from his lips while the nurses hooked him back up to everything…

Keith didn't realize his hands were shaking until Pidge took one of them in her hands and started caressing the skin, her touch comforting. She waited until the nurses and doctor left before speaking. "It's okay. He's okay."

He tore his eyes from Lance's form, too similar to Shiro's to look at, and dragged his eyes back to Pidge's face. She took one look at the tears gathering and kicked off her shoes, crawling into bed with him and pressing up against his side. One arm circled his torso and Keith shuddered, shutting his eyes and threading his fingers into Pidge's hair. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head and removed her glasses, setting them on the table and wrapping back around him. She was small, always had been, but when she hugged him it was like his whole body was surrounded in warmth, was protected, and Keith relished in the physical contact for once. "You don't have to be, Keith."

He disagreed wholeheartedly but said nothing, allowing the hum of machinery, Pidge's warmth, and Lance's now steady breathing lull him to sleep.

~~~~~

When he woke up Pidge was gone from his bed, and he expected to find some note from her on the bedside table explaining why she had left. How late was it? They were on winter break, so there was no school in the morning, but he knew Pidge and he knew she never slept.

So when he heard soft murmuring coming from the other side of the room, he wasn't all that surprised. He rolled over quietly, trying not to alert anyone that he was awake, and jolted to find that, not only was Pidge sitting next to Lance's bed with his hand in hers, talking earnestly, but Lance's large, teddy bear like friend was there as well. What _time_ was it?

Keith frowned and tuned in to the conversation.

"…he might be a little hostile sometimes, but he's been through a lot," Pidge was saying quietly. "I'm sure he doesn't hate you, Lance."

They were talking about him, and something about that made Keith's blood boil. "Just giving away all my secrets now, are we Katie?" he snapped, making the trio jump.

When Lance's eyes, weary and bagged, turned on him, Keith almost apologized. Pidge jumped in first, though, eyes flashing. She hated the name Katie; it was her grandmother's name, and she and he grandmother were not on good terms. Keith knew that. "Keith, I didn't say a damn word and you know it."

Keith scowled and looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. "Whatever."

"She was just keeping Lance company," the larger teen tried, his voice hinting at peace. "He woke up before I got here…she didn't say anything to him. At least not while I was in the room."

"She didn't say anything, Keith," Lance promised, voice hoarse and scared.

Keith mustered up the energy to look over at the group, slumping back in bed and relaxing a little. "I…"

He needed out, he realized. He needed to get out of the room, before the walls closed in, before he could stare at Lance for too long and see someone else who looked like they were on their deathbed. He fumbled at the sheets, eyes stinging, and suddenly Lance's larger friend was there, keeping a firm grip on his arm and studying him. "Dude. Chill."

Pidge had stood now, fingers still loosely holding onto Lance's, and she was watching him in concern. Keith took a shaky breath. "I need…I need to leave. The wheelchair is-"

"I know," the teen promised, dark skin making it nearly impossible to see him in the dim lighting. "I'll get it for you."

He released Keith slowly and moved over to the coat rack, pulling the chair out from under it. Pidge finally piped up again. "Hunk, don't you think you should get a nurse to do this?"

Hunk nodded. "Yeah, I will."

He pressed the button even as he was helping Keith out of bed, and in a minute one of the night nurses, Shay, showed up, beefy arms straining at her uniform and eyebrow quirking as she watched Hunk lower Keith into the seat. "You know you're supposed to get a nurse to do that?" she asked sternly.

Hunk shot her a smile that looked almost flirtatious (maybe that was where Lance got it from) and shrugged. "Sorry, Miss. I work as an escort in the hospital, I'm used to moving patients. I just needed you to hook up the IV here. He wanted to go on a walk."

Shay studied him, a twitch of her lips implying that she was trying not to grin back, and to Keith's surprise, she moved to do exactly as Hunk asked. "You boys be careful," she murmured, leaving the room with a wink.

"Dude," Lance muttered from the bed. "She _never_ flirts back with me."

Hunk flipped him off good naturedly and Keith decided that he liked him. Pidge moved away from Lance and took the chair's handles from Hunk, nodding. "I got him. You guys hang out."

She pushed him out before Hunk could say anything else and Keith found himself being shoved through the halls until they reached the empty community room. A sitcom from the 90s was playing quietly on the TV in the corner, and the night nurse was reading a book at her desk. She gave them a cursory glance when they came in and then proceeded to ignore them. "What time is it?" Keith finally asked.

Pidge glanced at her watch, pushing her glasses up again. "Late. Keith, I swear, I didn't-"

"I know."

Pidge pursed her lips and nodded, leaning forwards on her knees and clasping her hands together. "I think…I think you and Lance should try and get along. He likes you, is worried about you."

"Worried about _me?_ He's the one who collapsed earlier!" Keith protested.

Pidge gnawed on the inside of her cheek and glanced away, and something dawned on Keith. "You know why he's here, don't you?"

She shot her gaze to him and, after a moment, nodded silently. "Yes. He…look, I got up to leave after a while, because it was getting late, but he was just…a _wreck_. I couldn't leave him alone. His parents couldn't come in because of all his siblings being home, at least not this late, so Hunk told them he would come, but he wasn't there yet. Keith, he needed someone is all. And I just happened to be there."

Keith swallowed and ran a shaky hand over his head, eyes prickling. "I…I've been kind of a jackass to him, haven't I?"

"From what I can tell, yes."

"Way to hold back," he muttered. "I just…he's always so annoyingly happy, and he's so vain, like all he cares about is his hair, and I can't deal with that sometimes."

Pidge was staring at him now, mouth formed in a soft "oh," and Keith hated that look because it meant she knew something he didn't. "What?" he demanded.

She shook her head and reached out, settling a hand on his knee and Keith shuddered because it sent needles of pain flickering through his body. She pulled back and rethought her position, holding his hand instead. "Keith, he…you guys need to talk, okay? Before you can't anymore."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Pidge stayed silent, standing and moving behind his wheelchair, fingers taking the handles and starting to push, and something in Keith panicked. He whirled in his seat, vision whiting out for a moment in pain, and clasped Pidge's wrist hard. " _Pidge_. Is he…?"

She bit down on her lower lip and cast her eyes away, still walking at a steady pace. "It's not my place, Keith. Just talk to him."

Fuck. _Fuck._

Something hitched in Keith's chest and he felt like he couldn't breathe for a second. He had never thought, not for a moment, that Lance would be in the hospital for something that might be fatal. Despite everything, he had grown on Keith, and to lose someone else…

He pressed his hands to his mouth and took a shaky breath, aware that at some point Shay had started walking alongside them silently, to reattach his IV when they got back to the room. Lance was asleep again when they rolled in, Hunk perched on the chair by his bed with a reading light clipped onto a book and glasses perched on the edge of his nose, thin, square frames that were the palest yellow on the sides and that suited him. He glanced up when they entered and nodded, watching silently as Shay unhooked and rehooked Keith and then helped him back into bed. "You two are going to have to leave, okay?" she said kindly. "It's too late for you to be here anymore, and Lance is stable."

She directed the last statement at Hunk, who nodded and shut the book, sliding the glasses into his jacket pocket and joining Pidge at Keith's side. Shay left after both of them promised they'd be out in a few moments and Pidge reached out, squeezing Keith's hand. "Seriously. Talk to him."

Hunk nodded in agreement. "She's right. I think he wants to talk too. It might do both of you some good."

Keith glanced between the two and nodded almost imperceptibly, accepting a hug from Pidge and a pat on the shoulder from Hunk, who was really starting to grow on him. They left together and Keith slid down in bed, turning his eyes to the lump in the other bed. Something about his breathing, about the way he shifted in bed, told Keith that he wasn't really asleep. "Lance?"

There was a pregnant pause, and then an answer. "What?"

Keith swallowed and shut his eyes tightly, curling his fingers into his pillow. "I'm sorry."

More hesitation. "What for?"

"Being a dick."

That got a laugh out of Lance, albeit a weak one, and Keith grinned at the sound. "I wasn't much better," the Cuban chuckled. "So I'm sorry too."

They were silent again, each of them staring into the dark confines of the room, the only light coming through slanted window blinds and the blinking lights on the hospital machinery. "What happened?" Keith found himself asking. "Are you…? I mean…"

"Am I dying?"

The question was followed by a harsh laugh that ended in a choked sob, and Keith found that he couldn't breathe again. Every part of him wanted to go over there, to hug him, but he couldn't.

"Maybe."

The words felt like a punch to the gut and Keith's mouth went dry. "Maybe?"

"I…there's…a tumor. Makes me dizzy, pass out sometimes. I have to get surgery. If that doesn't work, chemo."

"Oh."

Keith didn't know what else to say, and he suddenly felt like the biggest jackass in the entire world for having thought rude things about Lance. The pride in his hair hair, the vanity, it started to make sense. He ran a shaky hand over his jaw, trying to muster up something to say. "I'm sorry."

Lance let out a puff of air, and his voice shook when he spoke again. "Yeah."

"Where-?"

"Keith, I really c-can't…"

"Okay. Okay, I'm sorry."

He fell silent again, chin quivering, and struggled not to lose it as he heard Lance's stifled sobs. He had never heard the teen cry before, never even seen him look down, so this…this struck a nerve in Keith's heart.

"I was in a car accident," he found himself saying, staring up at the ceiling like maybe if he did that, it would feel less real. Lance quieted a little, and it gave Keith the courage to keep speaking. "Me and my brother, our parents…we were going to this cabin we own for the break. Up in the woods. It's…super peaceful, really quiet, right near this lake that freezes over and we go skating on. Shiro really loves… _loved_ ice skating. He was on his high school hockey team for four years."

Lance had calmed down a little and Keith pressed two hands to his face, taking a shuddering breath. His heart monitor sped up a little. "And the roads were…really slick," he managed, voice breaking. "And it's in the mountains, so the street we were taking was curvy and the driver on the other side didn't…didn't see us. Dad died on impact."

A soft gasp spilled from the other bed, but Keith found that he couldn't stop speaking, fingers shaking against his skin and tears burning down his cheeks. "Mom died a little bit before the paramedics got there. And Sh-Shiro…"

The sob finally spilled and he lost it, chest heaving with the effort it was taking to breathe. The beeping of his monitor sped up further and he tried to calm down so that a nurse wouldn't come in and see what was wrong.

"Keith, it's-"

"The paramedics said that he wrapped himself around me right before we got hit, that if he hadn't I would've been killed from debris, and that me being paralyzed was a blessing compared to that but it's _not_ , Lance, it's _not_ a blessing, and I'm so sorry I've been so mean and that I'm here just one upping your sickness but I can't _do_ this."

Hands were on his wrists suddenly and he jolted, thinking that a nurse had finally come in. Instead, Lance stood over him, body shaking and tears streaming down his face, fingers tight on Keith's arms. His IV stood next to him, looming in the darkness, and the sincerity and despair in Lance's face lit by the streetlamp outside almost made him break again. "Move over," he said softly.

Keith wasn't sure he'd heard right, but Lance lifted a knee, sweatpants rustling as he nudged Keith's hip gently. Keith shifted as best he could, cringing in pain, and Lance climbed in next to him, taking a second to adjust his pole before settling against the pillow. Keith shuddered at the close contact, not sure how to feel about it. "I th-thought people with…with…"

"Cancer?" Lance supplied, voice sad and eyes shifting in the darkness to meet Keith's. "That we aren't supposed to be around other people? Yeah."

"So why…?"

Lance slid down a little and twisted to look at Keith full on, resting the arm with the IV in it on his hip. "I'm taking medication to keep up my immune system," he murmured. "I don't know all the logistics, but I…I wanted a roommate. I didn't want to be alone at night 'cause then I would just…"

"Think?"

Lance's eyes flickered up and met Keith's and for a moment they just laid there, something untouchable between them. "Yeah," Lance breathed. "Think. That's…not good. And since you aren't in here for an actual illness, they decided you were the best option. I'm…sorry I got on your nerves."

Keith shook his head and reached out, hesitating before dancing a hand across Lance's face to get rid of a stray tear. "You did, at first," he admitted.

Lance laughed a little. "Gee, thanks."

Keith smiled and lowered his hand, resting it between them. "But I…I like having you here. It makes everything…hurt a little less."

Something in his voice must have given something away, because Lance furrowed his eyebrows. He apparently decided against whatever it was and scooched closer to Keith, his warmth even better than Pidge's because his actually went across the whole length of Keith's body. "Tell me about Shiro."

Keith swallowed and rolled onto his back, tucking an arm behind his head and thinking. "He was…an asshole. Always ate my food before I could, constantly threw dirty laundry at me, couldn't sing to save a life."

Lance chuckled and rolled onto his back as well, leaving the bed cramped but somehow still perfectly comfortable. "Sounds like my younger sister."

"But he was so protective. He cared, genuinely, and that made up for everything. He was going to school for the space program. He loved swimming, skating. He…he was going to teach me to play Poker."

Lance went still next to him. "Oh. Shit man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I know. I miss him."

He hadn't said it out loud yet, and when he did his voice crackled. He could feel Lance looking at him in concern but kept his eyes on the ceiling. "I miss him a lot, Lance. Why'd he have to-?"

"Hey, hey, don't. Don't do that to him, to his memory."

Lance sounded almost angry, and he looked over at him as best he could. "What?"

"He gave himself up for you," Lance whispered. "He did it because he loved you, man. Don't be mad at him for that. He gave you a second chance. Hell, he's the reason you met lovely ol' me."

Though he was clearly joking, something stuttered in Keith's chest and the lump in his throat went from angry to fond. "Yeah. He did. He…he is."

It was like a switch went off and they were kissing, heavy, breath gasping between their lips and hands clutching at each other, groping through hair. Lance's leg curled over his hip and they pressed together, firm, whole, salt on each other's lips and cheeks and tongues and teeth pulling at skin, leaving marks, fingers curling together and tightening. Keith was aware of the burning of his face, the taste of Lance's tears and his mouth and his tongue and his skin, was aware of how much he had ached for something like this, but eventually he forced himself to pull back, utterly breathless and body throbbing in more ways than one. "L-Lance…your leg. It-"

Lance cursed and instantly moved his leg from where it had been shooting off flares of agony for the last minute, instead letting his ankle tuck around Keith's delicately and running his fingers through the back of Keith's hair. "I'm sorry," he murmured, heart rate slowly lowering, if the monitor was any indication. Keith was amazed a nurse hadn't come running in.

"It's okay," he promised, leaning in to press a delicate kiss to Lance's nose, tongue running across his mouth for a teasing moment before pulling away again. "Stay here?"

Lance hesitated, arm curling protectively around Keith's upper body and _shit_ that feeling of being protected, being cared for, had been gone for so long that Keith didn't know how to process it. "What'll the nurses say?"

Keith smiled against Lance's mouth and nuzzled into his neck, taking a deep breath. "Fuck the nurses."

"Not anymore, thanks."

Keith spluttered out a laugh and they fell asleep, intertwined and connected in every way possible.

~~~~~

"You can do this," Lance promised, squeezing Keith's hand and holding out the folder. Pidge and Hunk sat on the other side of the bed, watching Keith closely.

It was over a week later, and Lance and Coran had finally talked Keith into going over the wills. He had requested that Hunk and Pidge be there as well, and that it wait until after Lance had gone through his surgery, just in case.

The surgery had gone 100 percent without any kind of problems, the tumor now gone from Lance's system and the only thing keeping him in the hospital the dozen stitches running across his abdomen and the potential for infection. Keith started physical therapy in another two weeks, around the time Lance would fully be able to leave the hospital, and Pidge's parents had offered to take him in for the remainder of his senior year.

Keith held the envelope nervously, fingers shaking, and flipped it open without looking. Pidge and Hunk glanced away out of respect, but Lance just leaned forwards and ran a gentle caress over Keith's cheek. "Hey. You got this."

With a nod and a deep breath, Keith picked up the first paper.

_Takashi Shirogane's Final Will and Testament._

Keith didn't even know that Shiro had made a will before all this.

He shut his eyes, shivered, and then opened them and continued reading, a smile quivering on his face as he did so. Coran, standing silently in the corner, was watching with his lips upturned. Allura was there as well, keeping an eye on Keith in case his heart rate started to get out of control like it had the first time he had tried this.

"He left…he left everything to me. I-I mean, except like, his space equipment, he donated that to the local elementary school. B-But everything else…"

He set Shiro's paper aside and picked up his parents, skimming those rapidly and pressing a fist to his mouth. "They gave _everything_ to me. I mean, they gave everything to me and Shiro, b-but since he's…"

Keith swallowed and looked up at Coran, eyes wide. "Is there a way I can get rid of the stuff I don't need?"

Coran nodded. "Yes, of course. We'll need a lawyer to do that, but that'll be easy enough to find. I know a guy, I'll give him a call later today."

Lance leaned over and pressed a kiss to Keith's forehead. "See? That wasn't so bad, right?"

Keith shoved him good naturedly, face red. "Shut up."

"Watch his stitches," Allura warned, a smile on her cheeks despite her serious tone.

When it became clear that Keith would be fine, Allura left, escorting Coran to the nurses desk so that he could call the lawyer he had spoken of, leaving the four teenagers in the room. Hunk tilted his head. "I heard you're living with Pidge when you get out of here?"

Keith nodded. "Yup. Her mom offered."

Pidge grinned, almost wickedly, and Keith squinted at her. "What did you do?"

She looked at Lance, who was also starting to smile, and then peeked at Hunk, who had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "I may or may not have had a conversation with my mom and Lance's mom."

"You're staying with me."

Keith whipped his head around to stare at Lance, eyes searching his to see if he was serious. Lance's smile faltered a little. "If…if that's what you want, anyway. You could still stay with Pidge, I wouldn't be-"

"Lance, please shut up. Of course I'll stay with you, you idiot," Keith laughed.

Lance's face lit up and he proceeded to do a tiny finger dance on the bed, cheeks pink with pleasure. Keith decided then that maybe everything would be okay. He glanced down at his brother's will, still clasped in his hands, and gave it a shaky, albeit fond, smile. "Thanks, Shiro."

~~~~~

The road wasn't icy anymore. Rather, the sun was shining a brilliant 87 degrees and the windows were rolled all the way down, wind billowing hair in every direction possible. Pidge drove, fingers tapping the wheel to the tune of the music while Hunk sang along perfectly in the passenger seat. Keith sat alongside Lance in the back, fingers intertwined and eyes gazing out the window.

Pidge slowed as they reached the spot, and glanced at him in the rearview. "Want us to stop?" she asked, voice quiet.

Keith studied the area as she crept past it. The flowers bloomed where they'd been hit, the trees danced against the summer breeze, and he suddenly felt like he could see for miles. "No. It's okay. Keep going, we're almost there."

Pidge nodded and sped up again, going just a little slower than the speed limit to keep Keith calm.

It had taken him almost a month before he was able to get into a car without being scared senseless upon his release from the hospital. Often times he needed Lance or Pidge with him before he could get in at all. He calmed after a while, but he was still super apprehensive, and if he ever caught someone without a seatbelt he would scalp them.

Now, though, Keith could breathe easier. He wasn't clinging to Lance's hand, just holding it, wasn't clutching at his seatbelt like it could physically transport him somewhere. He was still nervous, but he had eventually gotten to the point where he could ride in a vehicle again. Not drive, though. He would never drive. Not because of physical reasons, but because mentally he could not get behind the wheel.

And they understood. They all understood, and he was beyond grateful for it.

"Here!"

She parked the car in front of the cabin, in front of Keith's cabin, _their_ cabin, and cut the engine. "Hunk, go get the stuff."

It had taken very little convincing of their parents to let them spend the summer together at Keith's cabin. Everything was paid for, and with the amount of money his parents and Shiro had left him, Keith knew he could go his whole life without ever having to make a cent. Not that he would; Shiro wouldn't want that, he didn't want that. He was thinking about going into physical therapy for children.

Hunk appeared at his door with Keith's cane, which he had graduated to from his walker, and pulled open the door. Lance squawked, indignant, and flew out of the car, sprinting to Keith's door. He had recovered fully, though he still went in for monthly checkups to make sure his tumor was entirely gone. Keith always went with him. "Ex _cuse me_ Hunk, he is _mine,_ let me be chivalrous!"

Hunk laughed as Lance swatted at him and stole the cane, before bowing low at the door and presenting it like a sword. "Your cane, my liege."

"Lance, what the fuck?" Pidge demanded.

Lance kicked halfheartedly in her general direction, shooting a look at Keith that almost made him regret dating such an absolute nerd. He took the cane slowly and used it to push himself out of the car, free hand on the door to stay steady. Lance gave him a once over and then proceeded to dart around to the trunk to help Pidge and Hunk with the luggage.

Keith shut the door behind him and dug into his pocket, pulling out the keys for the cabin. They had been found in the wreckage of the car and, despite initially wanting nothing to do with them, Pidge had eventually convinced him that it would be a waste to get rid of them. He was glad she had, now.

He limped away from the car, feet still stinging a little when he walked but otherwise feeling better than he had in a long time. The wind blew off the lake, caressing him with the smell of water and pine, and he glanced back at the car to see that everyone was still busy unpacking the trunk. With minimal hesitation, he lifted the cane so that he held it under his arm, in easy reach if he faltered.

He stepped, once, wavering, body protesting, and a smile quivered to life on his face. His hair billowed back as he stepped again, and again, a laugh spilling from his lips after a couple of unfaltering paces.

Keith walked faster now, ignoring the slowly flaring pain and limping as fast as he could to the tree line. He heard a shout of concern from behind him, from who he wasn't sure, but he ignored it, stumbling on the last few feet and hitting the ground, tears biting at his eyes. Lance was at his side in seconds, gaze worried and a steadying hand on his upper back, the other clasping his free hand. "Keith? What are you-?"

"I need to…I need to…"

Pidge was on his other side now, taking his elbow gently in her hands and peering at Lance through her glasses. "The lake, Lance."

Lance nodded in understanding and pulled him to his feet, taking the cane from under Keith's arm and passing it back to Hunk, who fell behind them with Pidge. Keith leaned heavily on Lance's side as they pushed through the layer of trees, and glittering water spread before them, the free-floating dock at the end of the path bobbing in the breeze.

His breath caught and he stared for just a moment before twisting to hug Lance, burying his face into his shoulder and trying to stop his legs from trembling. Lance seemed to read his mind, gently pulling him back to the needle covered ground and tugging him into his lap. Pidge sank down next to them, flopping her head on Keith's shoulder, and Hunk settled on the other side of Lance, setting Keith's cane on the dirt next to him.

Keith lifted his head enough to gaze out over the water before looking between the group, looking at the way Lance caressed his shoulders and Pidge leaned on him and how Hunk sat there, sturdy, a rock, someone who wouldn't falter.

"You guys go get unpacked," he murmured.

"You sure?" Hunk asked softly.

Keith nodded. "Just leave the cane. I'll be inside in a minute."

Pidge, who had been to the cabin a few times, took the keys from Keith and gestured for Lance and Hunk to follow. The former only did so after pressing a firm kiss to Keith's forehead, leaving him in silence.

Keith used the cane to push off the ground and venture closer, eyes fluttering shut as the wind curled around him. Shiro used to say that if you stood just the right way in the wind, it almost felt like you could fly.

"I'm sorry you couldn't be here with me," he whispered into the breeze. "I'm…I miss you."

He took a shaky breath and glanced back over his shoulder, tears slipping over his cheeks as he watched Hunk and Pidge start taking things inside. Lance remained against the car, arms crossed and legs hitched over each other, and Keith knew if he asked later he would say he was just guarding their stuff. "I think you'd like them," he found himself saying. "Lance and Hunk, I mean. Hunk is a lot like you. Just…cuddlier."

Keith laughed and looked back at the water. "That sounds weird to say. And Lance…god, I hated him at first. But he…he genuinely cares, and I know…"

His voice hitched and he swiped at his eyes and then digging a hand through his hair. "I know that's all you ever wanted for me. I g-guess I just…I wanted to tell you." He shivered and clenched his fingers around his cane, taking a breath of fresh air and letting the wind dry his tears. "I love you."

Keith twisted to go, breeze lifting his jacket around his waist and twisting his hair into knots, and for just a second, he felt like he could run, jump, and fly.

Instead, he looked over his shoulder at the lake, smiled, and headed for Lance.


	16. After

“So it’s just…it’s what, it’s just over?” Hunk asked incredulously, glancing around at his teammates. 

Allura shrugged. “Zarkon and Haggar are both dead, the Galra empire has been disbanded, and the resistance has started helping rebuild the worlds that Zarkon had destroyed.”

Pidge, sitting side by side with Matt, who they had found at a resistance camp in the far southern quadrant of the empire, leaned forwards on her knees. “We can…we can go home,” she whispered, fingers clutching each other. Matt had already informed her that her father was dead, that he had been for a while. “We can go back to _Earth.”_

Shiro gave a slight smile, ruffling her hair. “We’ll still be on call, if we’re ever needed,” he promised Allura and Coran. “But I think…I think everyone is ready to leave, to go home.”

Coran nodded. “We’ll get the wormhole generator ready.”

~~~~~~

“Where do you think you’re going?” Lance demanded. 

Keith froze in the hall, fingers clenching on the pack in his hands and head lowering. “I’m…I’m leaving.”

He stayed still as Lance stepped around him, arms crossed over his chest and head tilted. “Why? The war is finally over. Why wouldn’t you want to…?”

Lance trailed off, curiosity falling to be replaced with understanding. “Oh. Your family. I…quiznak.”

Keith swallowed and avoided Lance’s gaze. “Yeah, my family,” he murmured. “I was going to go with Pidge, but then we found Matt, so I guess…”

He shrugged and pushed past Lance, not harsh but firm. “It’s fine. I could use the alone time. It was…it was fun.”

Lance stood silently, watching Keith’s retreating back, and clenched his shaking hands into fists. “Quiznak,” he grumbled. _“Fuck.”_

~~~~~

He hadn’t told Allura he was leaving, hadn’t told Coran, or anyone, actually. Lance was a mistake, he hadn’t even noticed that the blue paladin had followed him out of the main room. He was confident Lance wouldn’t say anything to anyone; as irksome as he was, he knew when to keep his mouth shut. 

Still, Keith mused as he set his bag down and started Red up, fingers trembling, it would have been nice to say goodbye to everyone. 

“All right, Mullet, where to first?”

Keith almost _screamed_ , except Lance would absolutely not have let him live it down for the rest of his human life. “Lance,” he snarled through gritted teeth, trying not to let his heart pound out of his chest. “What the _hell_ are you doing?”

Lance’s screen flickered to life in front of him, the softest of smiles on the paladin’s face. Behind him was a duffle bag. He shrugged. “My family already thinks I’m dead,” he informed Keith, who didn’t miss the quiver in his voice. “They’ll live a little longer without me. Your family hasn’t even met you. It’s a little more important, and no way am I letting a hot head like you fly through space alone.”

Something tugged at Keith’s heart and he gave Lance a weak smile. “You’re serious?”

The grin that Lance shot him made his cheeks warm. “Um, duh, stupid. Can’t let you have all the fun, can I?”

Keith chuckled and revved Red’s engine. “No. No, I suppose you can’t.”


	17. Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set after season 2, while they're still searching for Shiro.

It was no secret that without Shiro, it was impossible to form Voltron. They had tried switching lions, with Keith taking Black and Allura trying to pilot Red, but it just hadn’t worked. Red refused to work with Allura for some unknown reason, and though Black had tolerated Keith while trying to save Shiro, she didn’t want him piloting her again. 

Keith couldn’t blame her. He didn’t force it, couldn’t force it, really. Which was what found him and the other three paladins up against a fleet of nearly two hundred Galra ships that had taken an otherwise peaceful planet hostage without the ability to form Voltron.

It was their first real mission without Shiro, and it wasn’t going too badly in the beginning. Hunk was body slamming ships left and right, Lance was freezing them, several had sprouted vines, and another dozen were on fire. 

Frankly, Keith was relieved that his first mission as leader was going smoothly. If all continued as was, the planet would be liberated by midafternoon and they could continue their search for Shiro. 

But of course, nothing ever went his way. 

Pidge was hit first, her lion knocked from commission and floating aimlessly while she rapidly hit at the controls. “I’m okay!” she reassured them. “But Green’s down for a minute, I’m going to need backup!”

Hunk was in the middle of a battle between about eight different ships. He couldn’t body slam one without turning his back to another, and his laser could only shoot so many directions at once. He was out for helping Pidge. 

Lance was holding back behind Keith, taking down ship after ship calmly with both his ice ray and normal laser. “I can get Pidge if I go now,” he confirmed. 

Keith shook his head. “No…no, I got her. You keep shooting.”

Though Lance pursed his lips, he nodded. It was a small perk of being put in charge that Keith hadn’t anticipated; Lance was actually being respectful of him. Keith zipped around the Galra ships, well aware that Lance’s gunfire was keeping most of them away. 

Just before he could get to Pidge’s side, though, a shout from Hunk cut through his helmet. “Guys! I’m hit! I need backup!”

Lance was too far on the outskirts. He wouldn’t get to Hunk in time. Pidge’s lion wouldn’t be back on for several more ticks, and she was taking heavy fire. Something in Keith’s chest clenched around his lungs and he whipped his gaze between the two paladins, vision tunneling. What was he supposed to do? If he left Pidge, she’d be killed. If he told Lance to go for Hunk, he wouldn’t make it in time and Hunk would be screwed. 

“Hunk, I need you to form your cannon, _now_. Hit everything in front of you and fly for it until you clear the outskirts.”

That was _Lance_ talking, Keith realized. 

“Keith, give Pidge cover until Green comes back online. It looks like she’s only got another two ticks, but if she takes any more fire it’ll be longer. I’ve been shooting most of them, but I’m too far to get the closer ones.”

Numb, Keith lifted his hands to the controls and continued for Pidge, jaw locked. He shot the main ships down from around Pidge, settling himself and Red between the Galra and his fellow paladin. 

“Good,” Lance complimented. “Hunk, you out?”

“Yup. Coming back around now.”

Moments later, Hunk was slamming away the Galra from all sides. Keith shot without thinking, hitting ships with fire and lasers, and soon Green was back in commission and fighting alongside him. 

“Pidge, can you hit that big one in the middle there? It looks like a main control ship. I think the rest of these are just drones,” Lance noted. 

Keith hadn’t even _seen_ the big ship Lance was currently firing at until now. Pidge responded positively, and a moment later tentacles of green were sprouting from the inside of the ship. Sure enough, the several dozen other Galra ships shuddered and went dark, and cheers rang up all around Keith as they fell from space and crashed into the planet below. 

“Good job, paladins!” Allura called from over the speakers. She and Coran had been helping fight the Galra on the ground of the planet, so Keith wasn’t sure how much they had actually seen or heard. “We’ve got the Galra down here taken care of. The Blade of Marmora is going to come in and take care of the rest so we can continue our search. Return to your hangars for take-off.”

The flight back gave Keith time to reflect on what had happened. He had frozen, he knew that. It was one of the reasons he had dropped out of the Garrison; he froze when faced with a difficult situation that placed others in danger. If it was just him, he was fine. Keith couldn’t care less about sacrificing himself for a greater cause. But sacrificing his teammates? It wasn’t something he could mentally handle. 

But somehow Lance, the one who Keith thought was the least likely to step up out of the four of them, had guided them through without a hitch, without a quiver in his voice. He hadn’t hesitated to take charge, and Keith found that he was grateful for it. 

Red’s paws touched down delicately on the ground of her hangar and a comforting purr surrounded his thoughts, giving him ideas, suggestions. Keith shrugged off most of them but hesitated on the one Red seemed to be pushing for the most. “I’ll…think about it,” he promised her softly. 

She rumbled in his mind and he left, pulling his helmet off and walking up to the main deck alone, fingers tapping on the thigh of his suit. Lance had saved their butts out there. 

Now that he thought about it, Lance was genuinely a good leader. He had come up with the idea to keep the Galra ships from leaving the Balmera, and then the other plan about taking out the sentries that were firing at them. He had heard from Hunk that he had led the two of them to saving the mermaids on the planet they had landed on. 

Keith gnawed at his lower lip, fingers curling into a fist as he entered the main room and found everyone already waiting for him. Lance had helped save an entire planet with just him and Hunk. And somehow Shiro thought Keith should lead Voltron?

“Keith!” Allura cried in delight. “Wonderful job in leading the lions out there!”

To his surprise, Lance stayed silent, helmet tucked under his arm and a look of…was that resignation on his face? Keith looked from Lance to Allura and back again, opening his mouth. “Princess, I-”

Allura shushed him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I know it must have been difficult, for all of you, not having Shiro there. But it seems you can lead very well for now. Coran is already plotting the course to the next planet.”

“The one that said it had information about Shiro?” Pidge piped up, her eyes flickering between Lance and Keith even while she directed the question at Allura. 

Allura nodded. “Yes, that one. It’s why I’m leaving the cleanup for this planet to The Blade; if finding Shiro wasn’t so crucial to forming Voltron, I would have suggested we stay and help. But regardless, we’re on our way now.”

She turned back to Keith and smiled sadly, squeezing his shoulder. “Shiro would have been proud of your work today, Keith.”

 _No, he wouldn’t have_ , he wanted to shout. It was Lance who did it, Lance who saved the day, but before he could protest and bring it up, Allura was walking over to Coran and Lance had vanished. 

Keith’s heart sank and he looked down at his helmet, turning to leave the room. Hunk sidled up next to him, eyes curious. “Why didn’t you tell her?”

He glanced back over his shoulder at Allura, feeling Pidge step up to his other side. “I will,” he promised softly. “Why didn’t Lance say something?”

Pidge shook her head, pushing her glasses up her nose. “I keep forgetting you don’t actually know Lance that well. He might brag a lot, but when it comes to a gritty situation, or being under fire, he’ll keep quiet about what he has and hasn’t done. He lets other people take the glory, and takes the blame off of everyone else’s shoulders.”

She looked like she was speaking from personal experience, if the way her eyebrows had fused together was any indication, and Keith suddenly felt awful for every rude thing he had ever said to or about Lance. He bid the two goodbye and vanished into his room. 

Cradling his helmet in his hands, Keith dropped to his bed and leaned his elbows on his knees, staring at the wall that connected his and Lance’s room. 

Lance took the blame, took the burden. Kind of like the yellow lion, Keith mused. He was defensive, protective. 

Keith sat straight up, helmet clattering to the floor, and pressed a hand to the side of his neck. Lance was intelligent. As much as Keith teased him, he had seen how smart Lance was. And he was just as inquisitive as Pidge, if not more so, just about different things. 

He stood and started pacing. Lance was just as hot headed and impulsive as he was. He was a good leader, Keith had seen that today, and was calm under pressure. That plus the blue lion…

Lance could conceivably pilot every lion, Keith realized, stopping and staring at the wall again. He could pilot every single lion. 

Red was right. What the hell was he doing as leader?

~~~~~

Dinner was relatively quiet, the usual chatter happening between Hunk and Lance, Allura and Coran going over travel schedules, Pidge tinkering with something she had found in the observatory. Keith thought it might be a space version of a radio, and he would gladly welcome some Earth music at this point. He kept silent, poking at the food goo that Hunk had made taste suspiciously like pasta. 

“I want Lance to be temporary leader,” he found himself saying. 

The room fell dead silent, Lance’s spoon clattering to his bowl, and Keith could feel every eye on him. “Pardon?” Allura said.

Keith swallowed and looked up, avoiding Lance’s gaze in favor of staring Allura down. “This afternoon. Fighting…I froze. And Lance took over. He’s the only reason we didn’t die out there.”

Allura opened her mouth, shut it again, and then looked down the table at Lance. “Is that true?” she asked curiously. 

Lance shrugged sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. His cheeks were bright red, and he was looking at Keith like he had never seen him before. “I…I mean, I guess I did okay? Keith just wasn’t…he didn’t look like he was okay, so I stepped in is all.”

“He’s being modest,” Hunk interrupted, shooting Keith an appreciative look. “Pidge was under heavy fire and would have been killed, and I was in a tight spot I couldn’t get out of alone.”

Allura turned her gaze back to Keith, an eyebrow raised. Coran looked equally surprised, though somehow also smug. “You’re serious?”

Keith nodded and tucked his hands under the table to hide how much they were shaking. “I want Lance to take over until we find Shiro.”

He stood before anyone could protest, leaving the dining room and setting a brisk pace back to his room. He wasn’t all that surprised to hear a hurried screech of a chair moving across the floor and then footsteps following him, but he didn’t slow until Lance physically reached out and grabbed his shoulder. 

His breathing was short and his hair blown back, eyes wide and searching and gaze almost…awed. “Why?” was all he asked. 

Keith took a shaky breath and stepped out of Lance’s grasp, twisting his hands together. “You…you’re better at leading than I am,” he admitted. “You’re like…you’re a combination of all five lion qualities in one, Lance. I know Shiro only made me leader because we practically grew up together, but…that’s not a good reason. I’m not a good leader. I freeze when people I care about are under attack, and that’s not safe.”

His voice had broken at the last line and he squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head away and waiting for the teasing he was sure would follow. Instead, Lance settled his hands on Keith’s shoulders and tugged him a little closer. “Dude.”

Keith glanced up at Lance to find that he was blushing furiously, looking flustered in an almost cute way. Lance licked his lips before speaking. “That’s…I appreciate that, a lot. But I’m not a leader, Keith. I’m just…”

He faltered, like he didn’t know what he was, and Keith didn’t like that. He lifted a hand and settled it on top of Lance’s, on top of his own shoulder, and squeezed. “You’re the blue paladin,” he said simply. “But you have qualities of every single lion, and that makes you a good, balanced leader. I saw it out there today. So did Pidge and Hunk. You can lead us better than I could ever think to.”

Lance looked up at him and gave a shaky grin. “Little sappy, don’t you think?”

Keith laughed and pushed Lance gently. “Shut up. I’m serious.”

Chuckling, Lance dropped his hands from Keith’s shoulders and rubbed his jaw. “Okay,” he finally said. “Okay, I’ll…holy quiznak, I’ll lead Voltron. For now, until we get Shiro back. On one condition.”

Keith tilted his head curiously. “What’s that?”

“You’re my second in command. You’re more battle hardened than us three, and I could use advice about tactical maneuvers, strategies, things like that.”

Keith just stared at him for a moment. He had never seen Lance so serious about something like this before, and it made him seem older, more mature. “Yeah,” he said, stunned. “Yeah, of course.”

“Just until we find Shiro,” Lance amended. 

Keith nodded. “Yeah. Just until then.”

Lance grinned and turned to go, and Keith followed his instinct to give him a mock salute, a cheeky smile on his face. “Captain.”

The blue paladin outright guffawed, cheeks turning rosy again. “Hunk’s right. Galra Keith is funnier than regular Keith. No offense.”

Keith couldn’t help but laugh. “Offense 100 percent taken.”


	18. Weightless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was listening to "Weightless" by Natasha Bedingfield on repeat while I wrote this. It felt appropriate.

Grass was softer than Keith remembered. Greener, smaller, fresher. It danced in a way that he didn’t quite recall it doing before, like it was waving, trying to get him to come lie down and stretch out, stare at the sky. His skin itched with longing, but he turned his gaze upwards, unable to help the choked laugh that spilled from his lips as he took in the sunset. 

Hands lifted to cover his mouth as he took in the vibrancy of the reds and yellows and oranges, curling and intertwining around one another and scattering through the clouds. They turned pink in the rays, white puffs of cotton that he wanted to touch more than anything. 

He wasn’t aware that he was crying until he felt a pair of arms latch around his torso, low enough to only be Pidge, her nose tucked into his torso but her eyes, also teary, staring with him at the sunset. He lowered a hand and settled it on her back, rubbing gently and taking a shaky breath. 

A shoulder bumped into his right arm and he glanced sideways long enough to see Lance there, Hunk on his other side, and without a comment he pulled Keith’s other hand away from his mouth and laced their fingers together. He did the same to Hunk, tugging their small group closer together, and Keith felt something like adoration lodge in his throat. 

He ripped his gaze away from Lance, letting the tears stream freely as they watched the sun sink together. It would be better if Shiro was here, he thought, but the newly retrieved Matt and Captain Holt needed medical attention on Earth before they could leave again to search for him. So Allura had set down on the outskirts of the desert, just a little too far from Keith’s shack, but close enough that they were able to see for miles. She and Coran had given them all a moment to breathe, instead getting Matt to teach them how to contact Pidge’s mother. 

Keith’s breath hitched and he ducked his head, looking down at the paladin clinging to his hips. She was smiling, tear tracks caressing her face, and he moved his hand to tangle his fingers in her hair. She glanced up at him curiously and her smile softened, eyes filled with sympathy. 

He grinned sadly at her and looked back up, leaning slightly against Lance and tightening his hold on the Cuban. Lance squeezed back but stayed silent, and Keith milked in the last few moments of sunset, breeze lifting and running gentle tendrils along his cheeks, tossing his hair in the wind. His eyes fluttered shut and he could imagine that he was flying, that he was invincible, here, with his hands trapped by people he had never imagined coming to love. 

He felt almost weightless. 

“Pidge!”

She stiffened against him and leaned back, eyes wide and mouth dangling. Keith, Lance, and Hunk twisted to look behind them at a woman that was clearly Mrs. Holt. Her hands were pressed together, fingers resting on her lips, and she was crying. Pidge shrieked and bolted, full on sobbing as she tackled her mother. Matt and Mr. Holt exited the ship together, leaning on Coran and Allura for support, and they joined the reunion. 

That wasn’t what caught Keith’s attention, though. 

A stifled cry spilled from Lance and Hunk simultaneously and then they were flying, side by side, to the cars that had pulled up on the landscape behind Mrs. Holt. A petite Cuban woman and man clambered out of the first, a fitting blue sedan, followed by three children, and Lance catapulted into their arms. The tan minivan alongside them was opened to reveal two women, one tall and plump and the other short and slim, and Hunk was enveloped too, laughter both lifting and tearing down Keith’s soul. 

He took a shaky step back, eyes roving over the happy families, and swallowed back his tears. His arms lifted to curl around himself and he moved backwards again, trying to look anywhere but them, anywhere that wouldn’t make him feel so much like an outsider again.

Coran glanced up at him and his face fell, his mustache drooping like it was sentient, and Keith managed a weak smile, hot, burning tears escaping before he could stop them. He shook his head at the man and stepped back once more, twisting to go somewhere, anywhere, to just run, to just let the world take hold of him and never let go. 

The warm hand that caught him by the shoulder was not Coran’s, he knew that. Nor was it Allura’s. It was too large to be Pidge’s, too slim to be Hunk’s. 

“Where are you going?”

Lance’s voice was soft, knowing, and Keith forced himself to breathe before answering, gaze firmly on the darkening horizon. “Just…giving you guys some space.”

He was turned around gently, Lance’s hands sliding down to pull his hands away from his body and curl them into his. “I’ve had enough of space,” Lance murmured, tugging Keith closer and pressing their foreheads together. “Come on. You’re family.”

Keith’s breath hitched and he allowed Lance to pull him back to the group, where he was welcomed first with a massive, all-encompassing hug from Lance’s mother, and then another from Pidge’s. Hunk’s moms pulled him into a sandwich, and Lance’s father clasped his hand firmly, a twinkle in his eyes that Keith couldn’t quite place. 

He hadn’t laughed so much in a long time, hadn’t been hugged like this in longer, and he let himself fall into it, something in his chest lifting and vanishing at the idea of being so loved. Allura and Coran were swept into it as well, leaving Matt and Mr. Holt to shake hands and hug and praise the paladins to their parents. 

At some point, Keith found himself back on the outskirts, standing alongside Lance, who had one of his little siblings on his hip, her fingers curled tightly into his jacket like she was never letting go. Keith looked away and up, and his voice caught in his throat. Lance looked over at him curiously, and Keith could do nothing but point. 

The stars speckled the sky like diamonds, thousands of them, glittering and dancing and scattering light across the Earth. He had seen millions of stars in space, he knew that. But he had seen them too close to make out the shapes, too close to appreciate them, and he got the feeling the other paladins thought that way too, if Lance’s soft hum of awe was any indication. 

The blue paladin’s fingers, now free of his sibling, slid between his, and Keith stepped closer, leaning his head against Lance’s shoulder and gazing upwards. Warmth settled at his feet and he peeked down long enough to confirm that it was Pidge there, sitting back against their legs and gazing up at the stars with them. When Hunk materialized behind them, body providing heat against the growing chill of the night air, Keith wasn’t surprised. 

Their families had fallen silent, watching them with sad expressions of acceptance, and Keith knew that _they_ knew they had to leave again. 

Coran and Allura joined them quietly, Allura slinging her crossed elbows over his shoulders, fingers clasped together on the left one, and leaning her chin on her hands in an almost sisterly fashion. Coran settled himself next to Lance and Hunk with his hands tucked into his pockets and his face tilted upwards. 

Keith tightened his grip on Lance’s hand and lifted his eyes again as the breeze picked up, rustling their clothing and seeming to push the stars through the night sky. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, allowing himself to smile at the insanity of it all. 

He had home. He had family, and they weren’t going anywhere any time soon, not while part of their family was still missing. 

The weight from his shoulders had vanished, he realized. Not having a place to call home, not having people to call home, it had all vanished entirely, and he felt like the breeze could pick him up and carry him away, he was so light. 

He was weightless.


	19. I'm Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set after they find Matt, and only Matt.

“Katie? Katie, please. Please, I’m…I’m _sorry.”_

Matt’s voice hitched and he swallowed hard, resting his forehead on his sister’s door and taking a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry,” he whispered again, breaking in the middle and feeling his body start reacting to the stress he had been pushing aside. Shoulders trembling, throat and eyes aching, fingers shaking so hard that he had to curl them into a fist. 

“P-Please,” he choked out. “Don’t…don’t. I n-need…”

Her door whooshed open and Matt backed up, tears partially obscuring his vision as his gaze swept over her for a second time, at her appearance, her hair, how she looked so much like _him._ “Katie, I-”

“Pidge,” she snapped softly, though there was no malice in her voice. “I…no one’s called me Katie since you and dad…since you and d-dad…”

He winced and curled her into his arms, pressing a hand firmly to the back of her head and shutting his eyes while she sobbed against his uniform. “I’m sorry,” he managed to repeat. “I tried, I really…really… _fuck.”_

He sank to the floor hard and clutched at his sister tighter, fingers tangling in her curls and her jacket, _his_ jacket, and she was clinging back just as hard. 

“It’s not your fault,” she was whimpering against him, but he couldn’t believe that. She was wrong, she didn’t know. 

She didn’t know that he had watched as he died, as he had been murdered, he had chosen to stay silent and hidden, chosen to complete the mission instead of saving their own father. She didn’t know that their father had known he was there, had locked gazes with him, had shaken his head even though his eyes had said the exact opposite. 

Didn’t know that he had watched every cut made, every drop of blood spill, and he had done nothing more than curl up in the shadows with one hand curled into his mouth and the other clutching a flash drive of information, hot tears streaming down his cheeks and anguish suffocating his heart. 

She didn’t know, and he didn’t want her to know, but she deserved that. 

“Ka-Pidge, I…it’s my fault. I watched…I _saw_ …and I didn’t d-do…”

He broke off again and she clutched harder, shaking her head furiously and shivering in his grasp. “Don’t,” she pleaded. “I…I g-got you back. I c-can’t…please stay.”

His voice caught and he grabbed even more, if that was even physically possible at this point. She was in his lap now, they hadn’t been this close since grade school. “I’m not leaving you.”

Pidge shuddered and he bent down, shutting his eyes and resting a weary forehead on her scalp, vowing to tell her later, when the pain of it all wasn’t so fresh. “I’m not leaving you ever again.”


	20. Pick Pocket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted this months ago on my Tumblr but never here???? Basically I headcanon that Lance is an amazing pick pocket and he puts it to chaotic good use.

“-and the daguino was COMPLETELY overcooked!” the old man at the table next to them spat, his saliva literally landing on the alien servers face. “I DEMAND a refund!”

The server nodded hastily, eyes wide, and rushed off to the kitchen area, leaving the man to grumble to his wife about using the restroom. 

Lance popped up from his seat with a bright smile on his face, dropping his napkin next to Keith and clapping his hands together. “Be right back, guys. Gotta use the little paladin’s room.”

“Just go to the bathroom, Lance,” Shiro muttered, not even looking up from his menu. 

Lance shot the table a set of finger guns and darted out of sight, towards the back of the restaurant that Coran had told the paladins about. “Anyone else think that old guy was being totally unreasonable?” Keith grumbled, glancing at the table next to them and wrinkling his nose. 

Pidge grinned and glanced down at her menu, eyes sparkling mischievously. “Oh yeah. Total asshat.”

Shiro hummed under his throat in warning, but Pidge ignored him in favor of glancing at Hunk, who was also smiling wickedly. “Jerk,” the yellow paladin agreed. “Hope he gets some good old fashioned karma. What even _is_ daguino?”

Keith frowned in their direction, certain they were planning something, but before he could ask, a commotion came from behind him. He twisted in his seat in time to see Lance steady the old man from the nearby table, an apology dangling from his lips. The alien merely sneered at him, shoved him aside, and returned to his wife. Lance sat back down without faltering, picking up his menu in one swift move and flicking it open. 

“What was that about?” Shiro demanded. 

Lance glanced up and shrugged. “Ran into me. No big. Kind of rude, but whatever.”

Keith’s eyebrows shot up. It wasn’t like Lance to brush off something like that, but he decided it was best not to push it. They placed their orders with the waiter, all of them grateful for the break from Coran’s cooking, and continued their conversation quietly while they waited. 

The calm was broken moments later when the old man, who had gone up to the register to pay for his wife’s meal, started screeching about his wallet being gone. The whole table looked over at him and Keith couldn’t help but notice that Pidge and Hunk were having a hard time holding back their laughter. 

“I’m TELLING YOU,” the man shrieked. “I HAVE MONEY TO PAY.”

“Then I’m going to need you to pay, sir, otherwise you’ll either have to call someone to cover you or we’ll need to call the local authorities,” the manager said calmly. 

“But someone STOLE my WALLET!”

Face red in anger, and coloring his otherwise orange skin an interesting tint, the alien whipped around and landed his sights on Lance. “That one!” he snarled in anger. “He deliberately ran into me!”

Lance’s face filled with utter confusion and dismay, and Shiro instantly held a hand up to defend him. “Excuse me, he would never do something like that, and it’s rude to accuse him of something without proof.”

“You want proof?” he snarled. “Check his pockets!”

Shiro started to protest but Lance stopped him, eyes narrowed. “It’s cool, Shiro. I got this.”

Slowly, deliberately, Lance turned every one of his pockets inside out to reveal nothing but a gum wrapper and some lint. He even went so far as to take his shoes off and shake them out. “Satisfied?” he bit.

Stumbling over his words, the old man turned back to the manager, who looked like his patience had all but run out. “Sir, if you can’t pay-”

The man’s wife whispered something to her husband, ran out to their ship, and came back minutes later with a handbag. She paid for both of their meals and, after a lot of grumbling on the man’s part, left. The manager approached their table apologetically, lacing his four hands together in front of him. “Terribly sorry about that. May I offer you a free meal, young man?” 

Lance gave him a bright smile. “That’s okay, sir, really. I’m fine.”

The manager apologized again and left. After their food had been delivered, Shiro shook his head. “I can’t believe that guy accused you of taking his wallet. You barely touched him!”

An evil smirk slid across Lance’s face and into his eyes, and everything around Keith stuttered to a halt. “You didn’t.”

“Check your jacket pocket.”

Even as he reached into his pocket, Keith was reevaluating everything he had ever known about the blue paladin. When his fingers curled around smooth leather and pulled the wallet out, he almost choked. Shiro actually _did_ choke, spluttering a gulp of water out onto the table. “LANCE!”

Pidge and Hunk howled in laughter and Lance took the wallet easily, rummaging through it and pulling out all the cash the man had before tossing the now empty wallet under the table the man had been at. “What?”

“You _stole_ a wallet?” Keith managed to finally get out. His gaze traveled to Pidge and Hunk, still snickering. “And based on the way they’re reacting, you’ve done it _before?”_

Lance grinned and thumbed through the money. “I only ever take them from rude customers. And I never keep the money. It goes to the waiter or waitress they were nasty to.”

“He’s done it like, six times that I’ve seen,” Pidge chuckled, swiping a tear from under one eye. 

Glancing between Shiro and Keith, who were now staring at him in disbelief, Lance shrugged. “I grew up with five brothers and sisters. Pick pocketing is like second nature to me.”

“You’re kidding,” Shiro got out, voice still hoarse from coughing. 

Lance grinned and held up a belt. “Did you want this back?”

“What the _fuck?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know it's bad when Space Dad swears.


	21. Sharpshooter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set somewhere in Season 3, before Shiro returns. Ft. sharpshooter Lance and lowkey klance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao what are consistent updates

“Do not move,” Acxa growled, her knife at the small of Keith’s back. “Or I will have to kill you, paladin, which would be unfortunate after all you’ve done for me.”

The team stilled, Hunk’s blaster dropping from where he had been taking aim at the escaping drones and Pidge’s grappling line swooping back in. Only Lance kept his aim, mouth set in a thin line and an angry glint in his eyes that reflected in the castle’s emergency lights. “Let him go,” the red paladin snapped. 

Acxa smirked, digging the blade a little harder into the only unprotected section of Keith’s back. “And what would the fun of that be? Even as we speak, my team is getting away with your castle’s crystal. You will not survive here much longer.”

Pidge scowled. “Coran and Allura will stop them,” she declared, fists balling at her sides. 

Keith swallowed, tuning out Acxa’s retort, and focused his gaze on Lance, who hadn’t taken his eyes off of him. His gun lowered and shifted the tiniest bit, such a minimum amount of movement that the Galra behind Keith didn’t even glance his way. Keith lifted an eyebrow slowly, hoping that Pidge could keep Acxa’s attention a little longer, and Lance’s chin dipped a centimeter. 

He swallowed and shut his eyes, throat bobbing and heart pounding. He tilted his head to the right just a bit, giving Lance as much room as possible without alerting Acxa, and held his breath. 

The shot was so close that he felt his hair singe and bristle, but the knife left his back and scattered to the floor behind him, Acxa’s sharp cry of surprise indicating the success of Lance’s hit. Within seconds, Hunk had her pinned down with a foot to her stomach and his blaster pointed at her face, and Pidge was racing off to help Coran and Allura. Keith remained frozen, limbs trembling as Lance stepped over to him, his gun smoking. “You okay?” he asked carefully, his eyes searching Keith’s face. 

Keith found his breath and licked his lips, his mouth and throat dry. “Yeah,” he croaked, lifting his head to look Lance in the eye. 

Lance winced and moved his hand to the left side of Keith’s head, fingers brushing the hair there. Keith hissed and pulled away at the slight sting that accompanied the touch, and guilt flooded Lance’s features. “I’m sorry,” he managed. “I wanted to move a little more over, but the shot wouldn’t have been as good. 

Keith reached up and grabbed Lance’s hand, squeezing firmly and giving him a shaky smile. The castle’s warning lights stopped flashing and the alarms stopped blaring, meaning that Pidge, Coran, and Allura had been successful, but his attention was on the paladin in front of him. “You saved my life,” he whispered. “No one else could have taken that shot without hurting me too.”

“But I-”

“Singed my hair,” Keith said with a lopsided grin. “Needed a haircut anyway, right?”

A smile flickered on Lance’s face and he chuckled, tension flooding from his body. “Yeah. Yeah, you did. Undercut would look good on you, Mullet.”

Keith stiffened, as did Lance a moment later, but he let the blush cross his face without fighting it. He squeezed Lance’s hand again before dropping it and turning back to Acxa, who was glaring at them from under Hunk’s boot. 

“And now to deal with our intruders.”


	22. Crushing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heart to heart between Pidge and Lance one night after recovering Matt.

He had strolled past this tiny room a million times on his nightly walks, never really paying it much attention. It was a small thing, the size of the cockpit of his lion, and it looked out onto the stars around them. But because it was small, Lance had always stepped past it in favor of the larger observation deck. 

Tonight, however, when he walked past, he spotted Pidge sitting in the room, a blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. They had just found Matt, so he was startled to see her alone. 

Lance hesitated by the door, fingers curling on the frame. “Pidge?”

She startled and glanced back, and he frowned at the tear stains on her face. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, voice low as he stepped into the room. 

Pidge turned back and scooted over a bit, making room for Lance. “Nothing,” she promised softly. “I’m just…a little homesick.”

“We found Matt,” Lance pointed out. “I’d think you would…I dunno, feel like you had a piece of home back.”

It sounded corny, but Pidge cracked a smile and tugged her blanket around her neck. “Kinda, yeah. But it also made me realize how much I miss my parents. And I know Dad is still missing, but Mom is out on Earth thinking…I dunno, that she just lost her whole family.”

Her voice cracked and Lance tucked an arm around her, drawing her to his side. Her head clunked onto his shoulder and he rested his on top of her scalp. “Mmm. I’m sorry, Pidge.”

She shrugged and didn’t respond, staring out into space. Lance did as well, letting the subject drop, and for a while they sat in a comfortable silence. 

“I had a crush on you, you know,” she said out of nowhere. Her voice was timid, like she was afraid he would make fun of her. “Back at the Garrison.”

Lance swallowed his surprise. “Did you?”

She shifted, the air suddenly tense, and started to pull back. Lance didn’t let her, stroking a thumb over her shoulder and feeling the tension start to ease off. “Yeah,” she managed, voice choked. 

“Why’s that?”

She pressed her hands to her face. “Are you gonna make me do this?”

Lance chuckled and tugged her closer. “Not if you really don’t want to. Pidge, it’s okay. I’m not mad, or weirded out, or anything.”

“You just…I made a real shitty first impression on you guys but you still tried so hard to make us a better team, and you were so nice, even when I didn’t deserve it, and you made me feel like…like, I don’t know, like I had somebody again. Who cared about me.”

Lance hummed and kept his eyes on the stars around them. “I do.”

“What?”

“Care about you,” he informed her. “You’re like the little sister I never got. Course, I didn’t know that until we got to space. But it was true at the Garrison too.”

Pidge hesitated, fingers tightening around each other. “You’re really not mad?” she asked softly. 

Lance snorted and pulled back, twisting to look at Pidge with a gentle expression. She looked sheepish, and her face was pink, ears bright red. “Dude. I can’t be mad at you, you know that. And hey. We found Matt, but I’m still going to care about you. That doesn’t change. Your mom will get you back eventually. Both you and Matt, and your dad, hopefully.”

“But what if she doesn’t?” Pidge asked. Her eyes dropped and she picked at her cuticles, fingers trembling. “We’re in a war, and we might not…I just got my brother back, and I have…so much more family now, and I don’t want to-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Lance whispered, lifting his hands and grasping her face as gently as possible. She stopped, body trembling, and he leaned over to press a careful kiss to her forehead. “We’ll be okay. We’ve got five badass lions, a massive castle ship, and hundreds of people standing with us. We’ll get home, Katie.”

She shuddered and, without warning, clambered into his lap, arms and legs wrapping tight around his body and face pressed into his neck. He curled one hand into her ever-lengthening hair and rested the other on her back, stroking gently. “I’m sorry,” she whimpered into his shirt. 

Lance shook his head and shut his eyes. “You’re okay, hon. It’s okay.”

“It’s _weird.”_

“Do you still have the crush on me?”

“No! You’re an asshole!”

“Then it’s not weird. It wouldn’t be even if you still did. I’m still here for you, I’m not going anywhere any time soon. I was a substitute sibling this long, I’m still gonna be.”

Pidge sniffed and clung to him all the tighter, tears slipping against his skin. “Thank you.”

Lance hummed and scratched his nails over her scalp gently, reaching out to grab the blanket and drag it over them. He laid back on the floor slowly, giving Pidge time to adjust, and then shifted her so that she was tucked into his arm, head on his chest and one arm slung across his body. He rested his free arm behind his head as a pillow and gazed back out the window. “You good, Pidgeon?”

She huffed and curled her fingers into his shirt, body going slack. “Yeah. Thanks, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: this really isn't meant to be shippy, but if you want to read it that way, by all means go ahead.


	23. Oceans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Commission for Tuptaju on Tumblr. Commissions are open, if you want! You can contact me on my tumblr, pftones3482, if you want one!

"I cannot BELIEVE you got us thrown into space jail," Lance groaned, dropping his head into his hands and glaring up at Coran, who was leaning comfortably against the wall twiddling his mustache between two fingers. 

"We weren't thrown," the man protested. "We were merely escorted." 

"You told the king that the queen looked like a lovely slug!" 

"You told me that slugs were a delicacy on Earth, I thought perhaps that translated to all languages!" 

Lance gave a frustrated sigh and flopped onto the floor. "Slugs are gross, slimy bugs that shrivel up when you put salt on them." 

Coran wrinkled his nose. "Why are they a delicacy then?" 

"I dunno, people in France like to eat them." 

The Altean nearly gagged. "You eat them?" 

Lance shot him a look from the ground, unamused. "Coran, I've watched you eat things that are still living. You can't talk." 

Coran sniffed and sat down cross legged on the ground next to Lance's head. "Fair point. Well, Allura will be here soon enough to get us out." 

They remained silent for a moment, and then Coran tilted his head. "If Earthlings eat slugs...what else do they do?" 

"Food wise?" 

Coran hummed. "Anything. What do you like to do, Lance?" 

Lance stared up at the ceiling, one hand tugging absently at his bright green jumpsuit. Seemed orange prison garb wasn't universal. "Well...I like surfing. Oh, and garlic knots. They're incredible, my mom made the best ones. And digging your toes into warm sand while water washes over them? That's the best. But sunburns suck. So do raw onions. Ick." 

Coran eyed him, lifting a brow. "Surfing?" he said carefully. 

Lance nodded as best he could while laying down. "Yeah. It's like...you know that rain I told you about? You take millions of gallons of that, and then that's the oceans. And the moon makes the ocean move, and it creates waves, which are like...walls of rain that move towards land, I guess. And you get on a long wooden board and you paddle it out over and when one of those walls comes at you, you stand up on the board and you ride it all the way to shore. It's hard to learn, and sometimes you fall off, but it's my favorite thing ever." 

A beat, and then Coran spoke. "That sounds utterly horrifying." 

"Well...I guess if you don't know what it is, it can be. But hey, I'm still alive," Lance managed with a cheeky grin. 

"A WALL of RAIN? And you RIDE IT? On a TINY BOARD? _WHY?"_

Lance started cracking up, fingers clinging to his stomach. He sat up finally, glancing out the cell door in the hopes of seeing Allura, and then turned back to Coran. "I told you. It's fun. Makes you feel kinda like you're flying." 

"Is there no other way for you to fly than riding someting that could kill you?" 

A sparkle glinted in Lance's eyes. "Well...airplanes exist." 

"Oh! And those are?" 

"They're kind of like the Blade's speeder jets, except they run on gasoline. And also they're basically one big sheet of metal. And inside is a fully furnished room that people sit in and eat in. Sometimes they crash because they malfunction or run out of gasoline. Not often though. Oh! Sometimes they go missing, and we never find them again. Like Amelia Earhart." 

Coran stared at him, eyes wide and jaw a bit slack. "You... _lose them?_ How do you lose an entire aircraft?" 

Lance shrugged. "Eh. The ocean is like, 75% of the Earth. Sometimes things vanish into it, and it's too deep for us to get them." 

"Your ocean sounds horrendous." 

"Boy, you do not want to hear about the Titanic."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been a bit hard on money lately, so if you'd like to [Buy Me a Coffee](http://ko-fi.com/pftones), I'd really appreciate it


	24. Gifted Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Lance.”  
> 
> Allura’s hand fell on his shoulder and he jerked back, nearly elbowing her in the face. His hands had closed into fists at some point, and Haggar was clinging to her throat in the depths of the tornado. “She deserves it,” he growled. “What she did to Shiro, to Lotor, to us?” 
> 
> Allura’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “Lance,” she said again, her voice gentle. “That is not what the blue lion’s powers are for. They are for the protection of your team, the ability to calm them and keep them safe. They are not meant for death.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like Avatar, right?
> 
> Not quite.

Lance slammed into the edge of Blue’s paw, his Bayard skittering across the surface of the planet and plunging into the cracks of the ground. His breath shuddered and he clapped a hand over his stomach, lifting a murderous gaze to the witch in front of him.  

“Put him down,” he croaked. The anger in his voice was betrayed by the tears gathering in his vision, terrified blue eyes tracking Shiro – the real Shiro – with every move the sorceress made.  

Somewhere to his left, Pidge groaned, and hatred burned deep in Lance’s gut. Hunk was cradling her against him, one of his legs twisted painfully under his form, and she had blood trickling down her temples. Allura was passed out next to them, helmet cracked and hair strewn about the ground. 

Keith was across from him, still dressed in his Blade outfit, still standing, though with a limp. He held his Galra sword in one hand and his Bayard, Shiro’s Bayard, really, in his other. His teeth were gritted against the pain, and he struggled forward another step.  

Haggar’s hand squeezed at the air and Shiro shouted, a broken sound. Keith stopped, faltering, his legs wobbling under him, and desperation clouded his face 

The clone stood behind Haggar, looking torn, cheeks ruddy and covered in dirt and sweat. It’s hands shook at it’s sides, and it’s eyes kept flickering between the paladins and it’s creator.  

Around them, the battlefield steamed. Dead and destroyed sentries floated lifelessly in the pool of water to their right, and even more piled to the left and behind. The trees closest to them were charred and smoking, mere twigs left over from the battle that had taken place just before this stand off.  

“What do you plan to do, child?” Haggar mused, her voice laced with humor. Her fingers tightened and Shiro clawed weakly at his throat, tears striping through the dust on his face and legs kicking at the ground under him for purchase. “You come for him, you die. He dies. You give up now, give me the weapons and the lions, and he and you are free to live. For now.”  

Lance clenched his jaw and pushed up against Blue with his free hand, startled to feel her presence tickling at the back of his mind. He hadn’t felt her since Allura had taken over, but he was grateful for her confidence, for her support. “We…we will not give up Voltron to you. Never,” he snapped.  

Fingers curled in closer and Shiro’s breathing stuttered, a strangled, wet sound that reminded Lance of a drowning child. Keith whimpered and dropped to his knees, turning pleading eyes to Lance. He was no longer a paladin, could no longer call the moves, and Lance knew that Keith knew what the right thing was to do.  

Nevertheless, his chest ached at the sight of Shiro struggling in the hands of an evil witch, and the arm holding the wound in his stomach tightened. A renewed sense of energy flowed through him, amplified by the blue lion behind him, and Lance pushed fully to his feet. He swayed for a moment and then straightened, dropping his arms to his sides and curling his hands into fists.  

“He is our teammate,” Lance said, shutting his eyes. His fingers tingled, probably blood loss. “He was our leader. Our friend. He is a member of this coalition, of this force, and you will _not_ take him from us.“  

The ponds waves had gotten restless, but Lance ignored the sound of water dragging on the shore in favor of stepping closer. Haggar scowled and her fist glowed just a bit darker. Shiro’s kicking slowed, clawing fingers gripping for a last mercy, and Lance growled.  

From the corner of his eye, he could see Keith fall back onto the ground, eyes wide and gaze locked on Lance, but he paid him no mind. His focus fell onto Haggar, whose eyes went wide as well. Her grip on Shiro loosened ever so slightly and the man gagged in as large a gulp of air as he could before she clamped down again. "You would do well to stay back, Paladin,” she ordered.  

But there was fear in her voice. The slightest tremor, one that sent waves of courage through Lance and made his pace smoother, his face harder. A slow smile slid across his cheeks. “You’re scared of me,” he noted, cautious.  

Haggar scoffed. “Of a child? Please.” 

Her hand closed all the way and Shiro jerked in her grasp. A spike of pain shot through Lance’s heart. “NO!” 

The water in the pond, which had been lapping madly at the ground, exploded. A torrent swirled into the air and crashed down on Haggar hard, slamming her into the dirt and forcing her grip from Shiro, who promptly collapsed to the ground and started retching. Keith stumbled to his side and Lance turned his gaze on the witch.  

Power was flooding through his veins, his body, and instinctively he thrust his hands out, palms flat. Water swirled around Haggar, fast and relentless, forming a miniature hurricane that Lance plucked from his memory. A whirlpool formed in shaken soda bottles on hot summer days, good memories, drowning and choking this murderous, vile- 

“Lance.”  

Allura’s hand fell on his shoulder and he jerked back, nearly elbowing her in the face. His hands had closed into fists at some point, and Haggar was clinging to her throat in the depths of the tornado. “She deserves it,” he growled. “What she did to Shiro, to Lotor, to us?” 

Allura’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “Lance,” she said again, her voice gentle. “That is not what the blue lion’s powers are for. They are for the protection of your team, the ability to calm them and keep them safe. They are not meant for death.”  

Lance swallowed, startled to find that he was crying. “But-” 

“I know.” 

“Lance.” 

His voice was raspy, dark, but Lance choked out a sob at the sound of Shiro. He leaned heavily on Keith, eyes weary, and bruises littered his neck. Lance lowered his hands slightly, shoulders trembling, and Shiro sent him a soft smile. “Not for me, buddy.”  

He dropped his arms all the way then, the water collapsing to the ground, and Lance followed it, sobbing and clinging to his body. Haggar laid, trembling, in the remaining pool, while the Blade members and the resistance bound her hand and foot and gagged her, so that she couldn’t perform any type of magic.  

Allura’s arm draped across his shoulder, comforting, but all Lance could do was stare at his hands. “What-?”

“It’s rare,” Allura murmured.  

“What is?” Keith asked, helping Shiro sit down next to Lance. He leaned on his Galra blade like a cane, and Lance wished he would stop being so tough and sit down himself. “How did Lance do that?” 

“When a paladin forms a strong enough connection to their lion, to Voltron, they can, on rare occasion, be granted with…gifts. Such as-” 

“Water bending,” Hunk noted. Pidge was cradled in his lap now, and he had two fingers resting on her wrist. Aside from some nasty cuts, she appeared all right. “It’s…like water bending, right? Like Avatar?”  

“I’m…not sure what that means,” Allura admitted. “But yes. Lance, you have connected with Blue so deeply that she felt you deserved these abilities.” 

Lance faltered. “But she’s…she’s not even my lion anymore.”  

“She will always be yours first,” Allura assured him. She bit her lip, gaze dropping. “I was merely the replacement. At heart, you are still the true blue paladin.” 

Lance swallowed and lifted a finger, watching the water droplets that had gathered on the ground around him lift into the air and gather at his hands. “This…won’t go away?”  

“Not unless you do something to completely sever your tie to Blue, no.”  

There was silence for a long moment, and then Lance lifted his head to look at Shiro, running his eyes across the familiar scar, the slightly grown out buzz cut, the bags under his eyes. “You’re really you?”  

Shiro managed a hoarse chuckle. “Yeah, buddy. Not a clone.” 

Lance nodded and crawled to his knees, dragging himself to Shiro and draping his arms around him, tight. Shiro returned the hug, a large hand encompassing Lance’s back. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Lance murmured.  

Shiro snorted. “Thanks to you guys.”  

Lance pulled back and turned to the clone, which was still watching them all with a stricken, sorrowful look. Kolivan stood near it, a blaster aimed at it’s head. Lance struggled to his feet, using Keith as an anchor, and then let his fellow teammate lead him over to the clone. They stood in front of it silently for a long time.  

“Did you know?” Lance finally asked it.  

It’s eyes flickered upwards, an aching in them that Lance remembered seeing that night in the hallway, when it had admitted that it didn’t feel right. “No.”  

Keith stiffened next to him. “How can we believe it?” 

“What’s your name?” Lance asked.  

It thought for a moment, looking down and away, fingers drumming at it’s thighs. “Kuron,” he finally said. “My name is Kuron. And I did not know.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews make anxiety lessen and writing increase.
> 
> Now with four parts!


	25. Gifted Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the surface, their body temperatures were regulated. But the water was much colder than the air outside, and Keith knew that Pidge wouldn't last in there. Against all the warnings that sounded suspiciously like Kolivan in his head, he sprinted for the water. "PIDGE!" 
> 
> There was no response, not even a bubble, and Keith found himself diving into the hole she had created, common sense at the last second making him click the lamp of his helmet on. 
> 
> The cold smacked him in the face almost instantly, and his vision went fuzzy for a moment before he could focus. His fingers were already starting to go numb. "Pidge!" he shouted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith's turn.

When Allura asked Keith and Pidge to go to an ice planet to rescue a bunch of stranded refugees that had been caught in the misfire of a Galra ship, Keith was baffled. 

"Why not Lance? I feel like we should be switching the planets we go to." 

Allura hesitated, glancing back to where Lance and Hunk were gearing up for a similar rescue mission, but on a desert planet. "Ever since Lance obtained his full connection with Blue, he's had trouble controlling when he moves water and how much he moves it. I'm-" 

"Afraid that he'll accidentally do something to the ice that could hurt the refugees," Keith finished, nodding slowly. His shoulders slumped and he looked back over his shoulder. "And then he'd feel awful about it, even if it wasn't really his fault." 

"Yes. The red lion is attuned to heat, so not only will she keep you and Pidge comfortable in the temperatures, but she will be able withstand the cold. And because it is so cold, she will not be able to heat up enough to cause structural damage to the core of the planet." 

Pidge, suiting up next to them, peeked up from under her bangs. "Green wouldn't be able to keep her temperature warm enough. It's like plants in the winter – she'd shut down totally." 

"Precisely," Allura agreed. 

Keith worried at his lower lip. "But what about-?" 

"I'll look after Shiro, Keith. I know he's still not up to his full strength," Allura said, her eyes clouding with worry. She settled a hand on his shoulder. "But the red lion has taken you back, as has Blue with Lance, so I cannot go on this mission, no matter how much it pains me to say it." 

Keith winced at the look on her face and reached up, squeezing her hand in his own. "I'm sorry. I know how much you liked piloting." 

Allura gave him a wry smile. "Yes, well...the castle will do. And Lance has promised that I can fly Blue at any time I want, so it is...manageable. Now go. Those refugees need you both. I must go brief Hunk and Lance." 

She sent Keith and Pidge running for the red lion, who Keith had only flown once since the switch back had happened. He waited until Pidge was comfortable and sturdy behind him to strap down and reach for the controls. 

Red reacted the same way she always had when Keith had flown her; an internal combination of a growl and a purr, the revving of her engines, and a kick start that made Keith's stomach twist in the most pleasant way possible. Her aura was happy today, almost calm, though the urgency of their mission was still in the forefront of her feelings. 

"Allura is worm-holing us through now," Pidge declared, glancing up from her computer and pointing ahead. Sure enough, a swirling portal opened in the sky. "I just have to send her coordinates when we're ready to be picked up and she and Coran will come get us and the refugees." 

"Good luck!" came Hunk's voice on the comms. 

"Once you're through the portal, we won't be able to communicate verbally," Allura informed them. "You need to send a message physically, or we will not-" 

"We know," all four paladins chorused at once. 

Allura chuckled. "All right then. Be careful, all of you." 

"Copy." 

"Roger that." 

"Will do!" 

Keith tightened the grip on Red's handles and leaned forwards ever so slightly, pressing them towards the window. She bolted at the light touch, and Keith fought down a grin. As much as he enjoyed flying Black, he had missed the speed of Red. And flying a Blade ship was nothing compared to this. 

They zipped through the portal, and for a moment, the world around them shown iridescent, rainbows filtering around their vision. When it cleared, a crystallized planet was in front of them. 

"Where to?" Keith asked. 

Sounds of beeping came from behind him and then Pidge spoke. "Far left quadrant. Sending Red the coordinates to highlight your path. We'll still be about 400 yards from the refugees because of a frozen body of water that prevents Red from setting down right next to them." 

Keith frowned. "What's that in feet?" 

"It's like three and a half football fields, give or take." 

The coordinates appeared on his screen and Keith directed Red in their direction, giving a shrug. "That's not too bad, though, right?" 

"Over icy terrain on top of a frozen ocean? Yeah, it's gonna be tricky. Hope you brought ice skates." 

Keith snorted and settled Red onto the ground gently. "I hope you're joking." 

"Oh totally. I can't ice skate to save my life. Or...anyone else's, for that matter." 

Pidge trailed off, glancing out Red's windshield anxiously, and Keith squeezed her shoulder. "Hey. We got this. C'mon, we don't have a lot of time." 

Pidge nodded and they suited up, shutting the glass front of their helmets. The suits regulated their body temperature to a safe measure so, while they wouldn't freeze just from stepping outside, they wouldn't be totally comfortable. When Keith stepped out of Red, he found it comparable to going outside in freezing weather with only a hoodie on. He shuddered and clenched his hands together before glancing sideways at Pidge. "Any way we can turn the heat up on the suits?" he asked. 

She shook her head, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. "Not really. Maybe a little, but I don't want to test faaaaate!" 

Pidge shrieked as her feet slid out from under her, and Keith leapt forward to grab her by the wrist and keep her from slipping further. He helped her to her feet and then offered his elbow, which she took gratefully. They paused for a second, panting, and Keith managed a laugh. "I'm warm now," he admitting, blowing a strand of hair from his face. "That was a workout. Let's go." 

~~ 

They found the refugees easily enough. Once Pidge had them on course, and they had figured out a system for not falling, they made their way across the ice with nothing more than a couple slips and a few ominous creaks. The refugees were huddled together around a small fire in the shelter of their destroyed plane. Two figures covered in blankets laid behind them, and Keith swallowed the guilt he felt at not getting there sooner. 

The oldest one bolted to their feet the moment they were spotted. They were a fairly humanoid race, with four arms rather than two, and antennae splitting from their heads. The moment they stood, Keith could see why they hadn't all died sooner – there was a layer of fur covering their major extremities, namely the torso, and their hair was puffy and full. Their eyes blinked sideways, like a lizard, and the group was bundled entirely in coats and blankets. 

The leader, or at least who appeared to be the leader, stepped forward, and Keith caught sight of the tail swishing behind him. "Are y-you V-Volt-tron?" they asked. 

"Part of it," Pidge assured them. "We're here to help. Our lion is just across this ice field, we couldn't park her any closer. How many of you are there?" 

"Six," answered the leader. "Eight, if you count the pilots we lost. I am Regneoj, our group's leader." 

They turned a sad look to the bodies behind them and Keith flinched, moving his gaze to the group. He picked out two that were obviously children and pointed. "Come on. We need to get out of here before you get any colder." 

Regneoj shook their head. "The ice is not safe. We cannot all cross at once. More than three in one spot, and the ice will break." 

Keith licked his lips and nodded. "Okay. Okay, Pidge, you're lighter than me. You take two at a time back to Red, and I'll stay here with the others. Okay?" 

She nodded once and separated, letting Keith climb onto the bank. "The kids first." 

One of the parents started protesting, but Keith shot them an evil look and they clammed up immediately. The two kids, both nearly as tall as Pidge herself, scurried down the bank, tiny tails swishing and extra arms held away for balance. Pidge linked each of them to one of her elbows and then started back across the ice. 

Keith estimated about twenty minutes went by between each trip, so by the time Pidge had gotten to the last guy, he was freezing and she was exhausted. As she assisted the leader and one of the fathers down the bank, Regneoj turned back. "Our dead...please, can you try?" 

The paladins looked at one another and Keith swallowed. "We...we can try. But I can't promise anything." 

Regneoj nodded. "I understand," he promised. "Do not harm yourselves for them." 

With that, Pidge gathered their arms and started leading them back across the frozen water. Keith eyed their steps carefully, gaze catching on the hairline fractures that had started on the shoreline where Pidge had been taking the groups, and he flinched. 

Once she was out of sight, he turned back to the bodies and lifted the blankets back, grimacing. Because of the cold, they were perfectly preserved, but they had also been lying there for about a day, so prying them from the ground would be nearly impossible. Instead, Keith surveyed their forms, picking out dog tag like necklaces wrapped around each of their necks that he assumed had been their pilot tags, and pulled those from the bodies as a kind of token. He pocketed them, shoving them deep into his armor so as not to lose them, and then returned the blankets to where they had been before turning back and waiting for Pidge. 

She was back a bit faster this time, a bit more giddily at the prospect of being done, and Keith's ears had barely recognized the ominous crackling of the ice before Pidge was crashing through the surface of the water. 

On the surface, their body temperatures were regulated. But the water was much colder than the air outside, and Keith knew that Pidge wouldn't last in there. Against all the warnings that sounded suspiciously like Kolivan in his head, he sprinted for the water. "PIDGE!" 

There was no response, not even a bubble, and Keith found himself diving into the hole she had created, common sense at the last second making him click the lamp of his helmet on. 

The cold smacked him in the face almost instantly, and his vision went fuzzy for a moment before he could focus. His fingers were already starting to go numb. "Pidge!" he shouted. 

He pushed himself deeper, limbs tingling, and finally caught Pidge in the lamplight. She must have hit her head going under, because her eyes were shut completely. Her lips were turning blue, and ice had started to form on her suit. 

Keith swallowed a whimper and kicked down. He couldn't feel his legs, and he cursed the paladin suits for not being able to do more. Granted, had he been without one they would both already be dead. But it didn't stop him from being mad. 

His arms circled around her chest and he yanked upwards. He tried for the jets on his pack, but they must have frozen shut, because he couldn't get them on. 

"Come on, Pidge," he growled, struggling for the surface. She was dead weight in his hands. "You're not dying on me. You're not..." 

He huffed, fingers slipping from just under the ice, and he cursed, trying for another kick. The cold was tugging at his body, bitter and welcoming, and he swallowed, tears clouding his vision. 

Lance. What had Lance done, to call Blue's power? Selflessness, upholding his team, supporting his team. 

His teammate was about to die. He was about to die. The second thought didn't scare Keith nearly as much as the first – Pidge had a brother waiting for her to come back, her parents at home, and if he let them both freeze to death here... 

Anger filled his veins and he shouted, body suddenly burning with heat. He kicked at the jet pack again and it burst to life, propelling them up just far enough for Keith to slam a hand into the side of the ice and pull, hard. He shoved Pidge up onto the bank first before crawling pathetically after her, and it wasn't until he could see out of his visor again that he realized his entire body was literally on fire. 

It didn't penetrate through the suit, thank god, but it was hot enough that when he set his hand into the snow, it melted under him. 

He couldn't help Pidge like that, though. He had taken multiple medical courses at the Garrison, and he knew that you couldn't treat hypothermia by just exposing someone to intense heat. Well, evidently he could, but Pidge couldn't. 

He started at her chest, shutting his eyes and calming himself until the fire receded from his whole body and moved to just his hands, dulling until his palms were just warm. He settled one hand over her heart, moving the other slowly across her collarbone and shoulders, and massaged his way down to her stomach. 

His heart pounded in his chest the whole time he worked, the only thing keeping him from panicking the steady but slow rise and fall of Pidge's chest. He moved up from her stomach to her head, holding his hands there and sliding them around the back of her helmet. She groaned after a minute and Keith nearly sobbed in relief. "Pidge?" 

She groaned again, fingers twitching, and Keith moved his hands down to hers, clasping them and rubbing circulation and warmth back into them. Her eyelids fluttered open and she blinked blearily, squinting. "Are...you glowing?" she asked, voice raspy. 

Keith hesitated, glancing down at himself and trying to look at his face before remembering he couldn't. "I don't know," he admitted. "Pidge, can you feel your body?" 

"Not my legs," she croaked. 

Keith cussed and moved to her legs, running his hands down gently and hovering them on her ankles and feet for a bit longer. "We need to go now," he said once she told him that she could wiggle her toes again. "I can't keep this up forever." 

"Keep...like Lance?" 

He managed a weak grin, trying to hold back tears. "Yeah. Apparently not wanting my little sister to die kinda made Red's mama lion instincts kick in. Okay if I pick you up?" 

She nodded and Keith picked her up carefully before standing and eyeing the ice. It was more solid towards the left, where they hadn't been walking, so Keith trudged that way, focusing on moving the heat in his body upwards so that Pidge could access more of it. It was taxing; sweat beaded on his forehead, and his legs were getting wobbily, but he needed to get across the ice. If he didn't- 

A roar sounded above him and Keith breathed a sigh of relief, peering up at Red. "Thanks, Red," he whispered. 

Red lowered just close enough that Keith could use his jet pack to fly into her gaping maw and deposit Pidge onto the ground at his chair. "Take us up," he ordered the lion. "Put us in hover for a minute, Red." 

The lion did as asked and shot upwards while Keith worked to undo Pidge's armor. He shed his helmet and over suit, leaving only the black under suit on, and used his hand – his bare hand – to remove the rest of the ice from her armor. 

"You are glowing," Pidge murmured, lifting a shaky hand to stop his hands and examine them. "Like...a soft reddish orange color." 

Keith snorted. "Can't believe that's what you're focused on. C'mon, I need those coordinates for Allura." 

Pidge tilted her head to her tablet, resting in the bag against the wall. "In there." 

He moved to them, sent out a distress signal to Allura, and then moved back to Pidge. His hands were heated to just under literally burning, and he held them over her rather than touching her until the castle appeared to take them home. 

~~ 

Once Pidge and the refugees had been situated in healing pods and Coran had cleared Keith to not be in one, Keith made his way to the lounge in a pair of sweats and a tank top, completely and utterly drained. 

A few of the refugees from Hunk and Lance's planet were curled up sleeping in the corner, snuggled and quiet, and Keith let the sound of their soft snoring lull him into a relaxed state. It was disrupted when a body sank down onto the couch next to him. He cracked open one eye to see Lance sitting there, in his usual outfit minus the jacket and shoes, eyeing him curiously. He set down a glass of water on the table in front of them before resuming his staring. 

"What?" 

"Brought you some water." 

Keith shut his eyes again. "Thanks." 

"I heard you uh...tapped into Red's powers." 

Keith managed a smile and peeled his eyes open again, side eyeing Lance. Lance held up a hand and the water from the cup pooled out, slinking through the air and then dancing across his palm. Keith chuckled and held up his hand, watching in slight disbelief as fire flickered to life on each of his fingertips, tiny pinpricks of light. 

Lance whistled. "Nice." 

Keith let the fire slide across his hand until he was too weak to hold it anymore, tossing it into the air and watching as Lance put it out with his water ball. "Pidge didn't die, so it can't be all bad," he murmured. 

"Matt is gonna be all over you next time we see him." 

Keith snorted, crossing his arms over his chest and letting his head fall to Lance's shoulder without a second thought. It was a testament to how calm Lance was that he let him stay there. "Boy, I sure hope not," he grumbled. "Let me know when Pidge is out of the pod." 

"Will do, buddy." 

He passed out in seconds.


	26. Gifted Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ground shuddered again, and Hunk caught sight of the horrified looks of his friends before the ground under him and almost four dozen Alsudifno's fell through the center of the earth. 
> 
> Lance's shout echoed through Hunk's ears. "NO!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't know if I'm doing Shiro yet...probably will, though lol

"Guys, I can't hold this that much longer," Hunk growled. Sweat beaded on his forehead and slid down his face, the front of his helmet steaming up. His shoulders were pressed firmly to the wall, which was threatening to collapse at any moment and crush the hundreds of tiny aliens evacuating at his feet. 

Tiny as in the size of a mouse. Hunk had thought the Arusians were small and cute, and then Pidge had brought back those weird poofy aliens from her trash nebula, but the Alsudifno's were an entirely different story. They looked in every way like humans, except they had pointed ears with tiny tufts of hair on the top, they didn't have pupils, and they were the size of a pet hamster. The fact that they had even managed to pick up their distress signal was a feat in and of itself. 

Long story short, their planet was collapsing, similar to the Balmera. The Alsudifno's lived on a planet rich in both liquid and solid fuel, and the Galra had torn it apart in their ravaging. Because of their size, the inhabitants of the planet had gone unconquered. But unlike the Balmera, Alsudifno could not replenish itself. The lack of core and oil in it's system caused the planet to crumble, and because of this, the paladins hadn't been able to bring their lions to the surface. 

"Hunk, you need to hold for just a little longer!" Shiro shouted. He was opposite Hunk on the far side of the wall, a pinprick in the distance. Between them was a device that Pidge had brought down that resembled a car-jack, and that was what was sustaining the center. The wall was too heavy for the other three paladins to hold. 

They in turn were shuttling the Alsudifno's back and forth to the castle on the tiny pod they had flown down. Pidge was staying planet side to keep an eye on readings, and Keith was piloting while Lance loaded them on board. 

There were thousands of the aliens, and the pod could only hold so many at a time, so it was slow going. If the wall they were clinging to collapsed, they'd be crushed under what, to them, felt like literal tons of rock and earth. 

From what Hunk could tell, the wall acted like a massive apartment building. According to the king, Risnad, it held forty stories, with nearly 7000 apartments per floor. Hunk had done the math. That was almost 300,000 civilians. 

He cursed and shifted his feet in the dirt, watching where he stepped carefully. Luckily, the Alsudifno's were making a wide berth around both him and Shiro to avoid that exact problem. 

The wall quaked ever so slightly under his shoulder and Hunk grunted, spreading his arms wider. "It's not gonna hold longer! How many are left?" 

One of the Alsudifno's scrambled up his suit and perched on his shoulder to answer. "Nearly a thousand still here in the building! Your blue paladin can't shove more than 2,000 of us in at a time. There are more waiting. The apartments are almost clear, we have soldiers checking each floor. Once the last has reported, we don't have to worry about the building structure any longer." 

The ground shook under them and Hunk swallowed, shutting his eyes. "It's not the apartment I'm worried about." 

Pidge came running over, picking her way as fast as possible around the Alsudifno's, and lifted her visor. She was sweating badly, and Hunk had to admit that the planet was growing warmer. Only Keith would be totally unaffected by the heat. "The internal structure of the planet isn't going to last longer than another ten minutes," she said, her eyes anxious. "There's still almost four thousand of them left." 

Hunk let out a frustrated groan. "Can't Lance like...get Blue and freeze the planet together? Or you in Green and the vine thingys?" 

Pidge wrinkled her nose. "We could try, but then we'd be making it harder on Keith. Lance has a system to get everyone in safely and quickly. Shiro's side of the building is almost empty, so he's going to let go soon and help us." 

"Wait, so I have to-?" 

"I'm sorry, Hunk." 

He gritted his teeth and glanced at the ground. His arms strained at the wall and his legs felt like jelly. "There's gotta be something faster we can do." 

Pidge shook her head. "We could get Allura down here in another pod, but it might cause the outer layer to crumble even faster. Us being on the planet isn't helping." 

Lance shouted for her and she ran off, the Alsudifno's clearing the way for her as quickly as possible. 

The Alsudifno still on his shoulder gave a weary sigh, her head bowing. Hunk glanced at her, eyebrows crinkling. "We do not want to risk you paladins dying," she said, her voice low. "Our people still on the planet have agreed that, should the ground become unstable for you five, you must leave with those you have managed to save. At the least, our race will continue." 

Hunk scowled. "No way. We're not leaving people to die. You- what's your name?" 

"Iadinas, sir." 

"No sir. Iadinas, go tell your commander that everyone is getting out. We're not leaving anyone behind if I can help it." 

Iadinas tilted her head and crossed her arms over her uniform. It was a simple black suit, what looked like a t-shirt and combat boots, but it was clear and easy to tell who a soldier was and was not, because the civilians wore much more colorful clothing. Her teal colored irises were startlingly fierce. "Sir, you can't prevent the collapse of this planet. We are not risking you for-" 

"Just go tell your commander, all right?" 

She sighed but saluted and then slid down his suit, sprinting into the crumbling apartment. Hunk clenched his jaw and shut his eyes, reaching out to the yellow lion with his mind. "Come on, girl. I need you right now." 

She responded, gentle and anxious in his mind, but there was nothing she could do from where she hovered above him. Her claws would do nothing but destroy the ground under them, and Pidge's vines wouldn't hold this for much longer. Not to mention, excess vines and ice everywhere might make the escape route more treacherous. 

Hunk was irritated. He was frustrated. The Galra couldn't leave anything be, couldn't let anything go untouched. Of course he knew that not all the Galra did that, but the empire was a leech, and it was killing innocent lives. 

The ground shifted under his feet again and Lance yelped somewhere off to his left. Hunk whirled, keeping his hands firmly spread on the wall, to look at his friend in time to see Shiro yank him back by the collar of his suit from where the ground had literally fallen from under his feet. 

Lance twisted back. "HUNK! Are they out?" 

Iadinas appeared on his shoulder as if Lance had cued her there. "Yes sir. I will watch until they are out of the collapse zone, and then you can let go and get to your lion." 

"Then go!" 

"I'm watching from here, sir. I can see better from high up. The commander and the rest of my unit is running the tail." 

Hunk's arms strained under the effort of the wall, which seemed to be pulled further by gravity every tick he stood there. He counted approximately three more minutes went by before Iadinas spoke again. "Good. Move, now." 

Hunk leapt back from the wall, letting it crumble to the ground. The jack in the center collapsed as well, and the planet quaked around him. "Shit," he muttered. "Let's go." 

Iadinas clung to his suit collar as Hunk ran, ushering the still scattering civilians along ahead of him. 

The ground shuddered again, and Hunk caught sight of the horrified looks of his friends before the ground under him and almost four dozen Alsudifno's fell through the center of the earth. 

Lance's shout echoed through Hunk's ears. "NO!" 

He didn't think. Yellow snarled in his mind and Hunk threw his arms out, expecting to brace them on the crumbling inner layer of the planet. Instead, the earth around them flung outwards and down, gathering under them into a solid platform that caught Hunk with an almost cushion like effect. 

For a moment, there was dead silence. It was broken by Lance's shouting from above them, and then Pidge's and Shiro's. Hunk forced himself to ignore them for a moment and he glanced down at the Alsudifno's that had gathered around his feet. "Is everyone all right?" 

There was a small chorus of yes's from the ground around Hunk and then Iadinas piped up at his ear. "How are you stopping us, Sir?" 

"Stop with the Sir already," Hunk groaned before glancing around. "And I really don't know. I'm kind of doing this on instinct." On a whim, he lowered his hands slowly, and the ground they stood on rumbled lower into the hole. "Okay, so down is down and up is up. Glad at least that hasn't changed." 

On the outside, Hunk seemed calm. On the inside, he was a mixture of elated and terrified. He lifted his arms again slightly, concentrating on the dirt around them, and slowly they moved upwards again. The ground wasn't floating, it was more like crawling, which was a creepy thing to watch happen. He ignored it and shut his eyes, letting his shoulders relax and Yellow's scared demeanor wash over his mind. 

_What do I do?_

She rumbled, pride in her throat, and Hunk frowned, swinging one of his arms to the front and flipping the hand over so that it rested palm up. A mass of dirt slid to the edge of the lump they hovered on and climbed over top of itself until it formed a ramp to the top, small enough for the Alsudifno's to climb up. "Out, now." 

The soldiers on the ground ushered the civilians ahead, two at a time, and Hunk forced himself to focus only on the feeling of the dirt under his feet and around him. As long as he didn't look down, as long as he couldn’t see the gaping hole under them, he could pretend that he was standing on solid ground. 

"Sir," Iadinas said, her voice soft. Hunk jolted, not having realized she was still there. "The soldiers have gotten everyone out." 

"Okay. You go." 

"No sir." 

Hunk huffed and opened his eyes, licking his lips and eyeing the fifteen feet of dirt above him. Around him, the planet groaned and rocked, and Hunk could tell that he was basically the only reason this part hadn't fully collapsed yet. "I don't know how to get myself out, Ia. You need to go." 

"Your friends cannot be here to support you, so I will stay. Just do what you are doing already – move up the wall." 

His friend's shouts had quieted, most likely because they were helping the civilians, but Hunk knew they were worried. He could almost feel it. He knew they were worried because if he was in their situation, he'd be worried too. He shut his eyes once more and curled his fingers in a bit. The walls of dirt around him rumbled in displeasure but complied, curling down instead of him pushing himself up. 

"Good, Sir. The dirt is at eye level now." 

Hunk pried open his eyes and slumped in relief, sliding his hands down and flattening his palms in front of him so that the ground was solid. One step at a time, he crossed the rickety platform he had created until he was directly next to the wall, which was indeed at eye level. 

"Sir, you're sweating." 

Hunk swallowed. His mouth was ridiculously dry, and he could feel the drops of sweat curling down his face. "I know," he rasped. "This is way harder than I thought." 

"Hunk!" 

That was Shiro, close by, and Hunk breathed. "One sec!" he croaked. 

"The civilians are loaded, Keith is taking the last of them. It's just you and me here, buddy!" 

Hunk nodded and pushed his hands up until he was at chest level with the ground. He crawled his way out, grunting in exhaustion, and flopped down on the still unstable dirt. A hand settled on his shoulder and he peered up at Shiro, who was watching him in a proud kind of concerned way. "You okay to move? Pidge estimates less than three minutes before the total collapse of the planets, and we need the lions." 

"Yeah. Yeah, let's go." 

~~ 

Hunk found the rest of the Alsudifno's crowding the med bay, each of them getting checked out individually by their own doctors. Iadinas, clinging to his shoulder, pointed. "My sister and father are there," she said. 

Hunk climbed around and over the tiny aliens until he reached one of the exam tables, overflowing with the Alsudifno's. A young Alsudifno, smaller than the others surrounding her and with ears too big for her head, squealed. "Iadinas!" 

She hopped down from Hunk's shoulder and embraced the tiny girl, swinging her in delight. Her ears twitched as her father swung in from behind, and she glanced up at Hunk with an appreciative smile. "Thank you, Hunk." 

His lips curled upwards and he gave her a salute before crossing the floor once more and exiting the med bay. 

He found Lance and Keith sitting in the kitchen, each holding a mug of something hot. Lance was staring at it with a wrinkled nose and Keith was just glaring at the liquid like it had personally offended him. Pidge was passed out in a chair on the far end of the table, her glasses lopsided on her nose and her computer open in front of her. 

They glanced up when he walked in and Hunk hesitated, fingers twitching at his sides. Lance's easy grin relaxed him, and Keith had a proud glint in his eyes. 

"Like...like Avatar, right?" 

Lance snorted and took a swig of his drink, gagging on it the second it hit his lips. Keith just grinned. "Sure seems to be turning out that way, huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are nice


	27. Useless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tears pricked again and Lance licked his lips, glancing back at Red. "Take Keith back, okay? He...deserves you more than I did." 
> 
> Red's head tilted down, eyes flashing again, and her purr echoed through the chamber, louder this time, more insistent. Lance shook his head, letting shaky legs drag him back into the pod. "I can't," he whispered. "I can't...be useless."

"You ever just feel like...really useless?" 

Red purred under him and Lance sighed, dragging his knees up to his chin and hugging them. His throat ached in a familiar way, the discomfort dragging up into his jaw and curling around his temples until he had a headache. "I know," he mumbled into his knees, pressing his nose down into the crook of his arms. "I'm a paladin. I have a use." 

Red rumbled again and Lance swallowed, shoving down the pressure in the back of his mouth, forcing the headache to recede for just a moment. His teeth clenched. 

"I just...what if that's my only use? I'm a one-trick pony, Red. Everything I have, everything I've ever gotten...I didn't get to any of it on my own." 

His head throbbed again and Lance shut his eyes against the blurriness. His voice cracked. "I got to be a pilot because Keith dropped out. We got to Shiro because Keith caused a distraction. I found Blue because Hunk made a tracker that led us there. I only got you because Keith went to be with the Blade. So what _use_ am I?" 

Lance's voice broke and he slammed a hand down on Red's head, shuddering at the impact. Red practically growled and he drew in a ragged breath, lifting his hand to swipe angrily at his cheeks. "What is even the point? If I'm gone, they'll just bring Keith back. It's not hard. I don't need to be here." 

Red's eyes flashed and Lance stood slowly, wrapping his arms around himself and crossing her head to the edge, glancing down. "Can you let me down please?" he whispered, words crackling. 

She did so carefully, like she was hesitant about it, and Lance stepped off onto the floor of the hangar, leaving his jacket where he had tossed it on the floor and crossing to the edge of the room, his feet shifting as he stood in front of the speeder. "You think this could get me home?" 

Red didn't respond, and Lance's shoulders slumped. "You're right," he murmured. His body quivered and he reached out, pressed his hand to the sensor outside. "Don't need me there, either. Sam's already there, they don't need anyone to warn them." 

He swallowed and curled his hand into a fist on top of the machine, fighting back the wave of tears. He hated this. He hated feeling alone, hated feeling like he didn't do anything of use for his friends. But really, what was the point of him being here? They could have done it all without him. Every bit of it. Some parts probably better. 

He couldn't fight hand to hand. He could barely shoot. He wasn't a skilled pilot, he wasn't a genius, wasn't anything. 

The tears pricked again and Lance licked his lips, glancing back at Red. "Take Keith back, okay? He...deserves you more than I did." 

Red's head tilted down, eyes flashing again, and her purr echoed through the chamber, louder this time, more insistent. Lance shook his head, letting shaky legs drag him back into the pod. "I can't," he whispered. "I can't...be useless. Not when people's lives are at stake, okay girl? Tell me you understand that." 

She rumbled again, and Lance felt the genuine concern come washing off of her in waves. He pressed his lips into a thin line and turned to the controls. "I'll be fine," he muttered. "I always am, I suppose." 

"Lance?" 

He stopped his movements, clinging to the console and shutting his eyes. "Yeah?" he asked, cussing in his head when his voice cracked. 

Allura hesitated behind him, but Lance could practically taste her confusion. "What are...? I was with Blue, and Red was...panicked. Are you all right?" 

"I'm fine," he managed, ducking his head and tightening his grip. 

Her voice was firmer when she spoke next, closer to him. "Do not lie to me." 

Lance shook his head, biting his lower lip as hard as he could. It didn't stop the tears from finally slipping onto his skin, fat and warm. He hated when people asked him if he was okay. It always caused him to break. "I'm not," he whimpered. "I'm..." 

He swallowed, painfully, and ducked his head further. Allura's hands settled on his biceps, soft, careful, and turned him around. He refused to look at her, keeping his eyes fixed firmly to the ground. Her hands slid down his arms, one lifting to cup his cheek and swipe at his face. "Do not lie to me," she said again, her tone gentle. 

He bit down on his tongue, trying to muffle the sob that spilled from his lips, and the moment it fell loose Allura pulled him in, a firm hand to the back of his head, fingers threaded through his hair, and her other arm clinging to his back, gripping at his shirt. 

The strength with which she pulled him in broke Lance completely and he let the sobs flow freely now, dragging his arms up Allura's back and pressing his nose into the fabric of her dress. She sank to the ground, slow enough that he could follow, and shifted so that they were both kneeling. 

"I'm sorry," he found himself choking out. 

"You do not need to be," she promised. 

He nodded, not quite believing her, and tightened his grip. She pulled back just enough to press her lips gently to his temple, holding them there for several ticks, until Lance felt the tightness in his head loosen and relax, the ache in his brain receding. He let out a sigh, and she dropped back into the hug, fingers pressing to the back of his neck and easing the tension there. 

"I'm sorry," he said again. "For just...being useless." 

Allura's grip tightened minutely and her breath hitched in his ear. "You are _not,"_ she snapped quietly. "You are not. Not to me, or to any of the team." 

"But I-" 

She wrenched back, out of his grip, and Lance realized that her eyes were red. "When Red called out to me through Blue," she started, licking her lips. "When she called out, she was so scared for you. I thought perhaps..." 

Allura glanced away, lower lip trembling. "And I ran here, I didn't even take the time to alert anyone, and I found you...leaving. You were just leaving. And I was so confused, because I couldn't think why Red would be panicked about a simple flight to clear the head, and then I realized that that was not what you were planning." 

Lance avoided her eyes, fingers shaking. Allura took them in her grasp and rubbed the tension from them. "The idea of losing you terrifies me," she admitted after a moment, her voice soft. Lance looked to her, searching her face, chest tight again. "Terrifies us," she amended, nodding her head at Red. 

She looked up, locking eyes with him, and softened under his look. "I am sorry." 

Lance blinked. He hadn't been expecting that. "For what?" he asked. His voice was hoarse. 

"Letting you believe that we – I – thought you had no use to this team. I didn't realize-" 

"Please don't," he cut her off. "Don't apologize. Please." 

Allura nodded and dropped his hands in favor of pressing his cheeks in between her hands and lifting her chin to press another kiss to his forehead. Lance let his eyes flutter shut and he melted into the touch. 

"You're important," she whispered against his skin. Her fingers tightened ever so slightly. "I promise." 

Lance turned his head away in favor of pulling her back into his grasp, burying his nose into the crook of her neck and taking a shaking breath. She smelled like clean soap and raspberries. "I don't quite believe you," he admitted, rubbing the tension from her back. "And that's not your fault. But thank you." 

She hesitated for a second, and then nodded, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt. "I'd like you to believe me one day." 

"I know."


	28. Jackets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith was standing over his chair, dressed in his old shirt, pants, and boots, his jacket clutched in his hands. His back had tightened when Lance had spoken, and he took a moment to respond. "Yeah," he rasped, voice low. "Be out in a minute." 
> 
> Lance frowned at the tone and stepped closer, fingers twitching at his sides. He didn't know what to do with his hands. "Are you okay?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season six spoilers ahead, so if you haven't watched yet, don't read further. 
> 
> Self indulgent, fluffy klance.

Allura sent Lance to Black to get Keith for their meager breakfast, some space goo cubes and some squishy substance that Lance didn't want to know the contents of. Hunk was desperately trying to improve the items, but no one really had high hopes. 

He passed Shiro and Pidge on the way over, talking quietly to one another. They had called Matt that morning, and Shiro seemed like he was doing better from having talked to him. They waved at Lance as he passed, and he waved back. 

The land they were on had an Earth-like atmosphere, and Pidge had deemed it last night safe to breathe, so Lance had finally removed his paladin armor in favor of his usual wardrobe. The armor got sweaty after too long, and if he wasn't going to be able to shower until they reached Olkarion, he wasn't taking any more chances than necessary. 

"Open up, girl," Lance mumbled sleepily to Black, who knelt and opened her jaws without hesitating, letting him climb inside. 

He yawned as he ducked into the cockpit, rubbing a fist into his eye. "Dude, Hunk is making breakfast. Or at least...something like it. You coming?" 

Keith was standing over his chair, dressed in his old shirt, pants, and boots, his jacket clutched in his hands. His back had tightened when Lance had spoken, and he took a moment to respond. "Yeah," he rasped, voice low. "Be out in a minute." 

Lance frowned at the tone and stepped closer, fingers twitching at his sides. He didn't know what to do with his hands. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine, Lance." 

The way his words crackled betrayed the message, and Lance hesitated, reached a hand out, pulled it back again. "I...no you're not. What's wrong?" 

Keith's shoulders slumped and his head lowered. His hair was longer than it had been before, and Lance suddenly realized that the two years Keith had talked about were really two years for him. It had felt impossible, but now he was realizing just how true the statement was. He found his mouth opening before he could stop himself. "Didn't want to hang with us? Two years enough time to realize how annoying we are, eh?" 

He said it in a joking manner, but Keith turned instantly, eyes glistening. Lance froze, blood running cold. He had only seen Keith cry one time, about Shiro, and so to see it now, in such a mundane situation, was almost horrifying. 

"It's stupid," Keith said after a long moment of silence. 

Lance moved forward without thinking, reaching a hand out and settling it on Keith's shoulder, squeezing. They were the same height now. "If it's making you cry, it's not stupid," he murmured. 

Keith's chin trembled and he shook his head, looking back down at the jacket in his hands, which Lance had honestly forgotten he was carrying. "It doesn't fit," he whispered. 

"It doesn't...your jacket?" 

His head tilted down once and Lance frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. "Well...that sucks, dude. But I mean...you did grow a bit," he tried to joke. 

He watched the comment smack Keith between the eyes, and the fingers on the jacket started shaking. "I know," he whimpered. 

Lance was at a loss. His heart lurched for his hurting teammate, and he moved his hands to cover Keith's, squeezing his fingers tenderly. "It's okay though, right? I mean...we could always fabricate..." 

But the castle was gone, so they couldn't. 

"It was just...one of my last connections to my dad," Keith managed after an awkward moment. Lance winced, but Keith continued. "He gave it to me before he died, and I...I can't..." 

His shoulders shook and Lance pulled him in for a hug without thinking, wrapping his arms tightly around his back. It was a testament to how upset Keith was that he buried his nose into Lance's neck and hugged back, the jacket still clutched in his fingers. 

"I'm sorry, man," Lance whispered. "I didn't know." 

"I know." 

They hugged until it became awkward, and still longer after that, until Lance finally pulled back and studied Keith's face. He was staring at the jacket, and with a sigh, he draped it over the back of his seat. "I just feel so wrong without it on," he admitted after a moment. 

A lightbulb clicked in Lance's head and he started shrugging out of his jacket, the bulky bomber's jacket sliding with ease down his arms and over his fingers. He slung it around his body and held it out to Keith, body about five pounds lighter without it on. "Here." 

Keith just stared at him for a minute, eyes wide, and Lance could swear there was a small blush on his cheeks. "I...what?" 

Lance pushed it at him, his own face starting to feel warm. "Take it," he said, shoulders softening from their ridged position. "I know it's not...you know, I know it doesn't have any great significance to you like the other one. B-But it's something, right?" 

Keith took the fabric carefully, rough fingers brushing Lance's and then smoothing over the jacket, eyeing it for a moment. A smile hinged on the edge of his lips. Without a word, he swung it around his shoulders and slipped his arms through the sleeves, breathing out when they fit his frame perfectly. 

Lance felt a sense of pride well up in him; the jacket had always been too big on him, but Keith's new bulk had given him the idea that it would fit. "It uh-" his voice cracked involuntarily and he cleared his throat, face on fire. "It fits good." 

Keith looked up from where he had been tracing a fond finger up the lining, eyes shining with something less sad than before. "It does," he breathed. And then, after a beat: "And it has significance, Lance." 

He turned to exit Black and Lance nearly tripped following him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hunk and Pidge, when Keith walks out in Lance's jacket: "GAAAAAAAYYYYY"


	29. You Don't Have To

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set after they go to Earth, and Lance decides to stay with his family while his friends go back to war. His mother isn't having any of it. 
> 
> Self indulgent, a bit fast paced. I might re-work it in the future.

The sky was filled with explosions. They looked like fireworks from the ground level, small bursts of orange and red and yellow. 

Lance watched from the edge of the beach, his arms wrapped around himself and his chin tilted upwards. His brows were scrunched up, and his jacket fluttered where it was tied around his waist. 

His mother regarded him from a distance before sighing and approaching him. He looked up at her footsteps, his lips flicking upwards. “Hey,” he said softly. 

“You need to leave.” 

His smile faltered and she reached out, cupping his cheek softly. “You need to help them, baby.” 

Lance frowned. “But I’m home now. I want to stay with you, and Luis, and Veronica is coming home from school soon-” 

“You’re staring at the sky, Lance,” she said, her voice low. “Your home is not here anymore. At least, not all of it. You’ve left a piece of it to fend for itself, and your home needs you. All of your home.” 

Lance took a deep breath, lifting his gaze again. “I don’t even...I can’t even get there anymore. Blue won’t activate for anyone, and Red took Keith back, so I don’t have-” 

A flash in the sky, and then a spark, and Blue was slamming to land in the waves caressing the beach, sending a massive spray of water over both Lance and his mother. They blinked, and Blue lowered herself to her haunches, mouth opening wide. 

Lance stood, speechless, and his mother squeezed his shoulder. “No excuses now, _mijo._ They need you. You know that.” 

“I...but you-” 

She kissed his cheek with a whisper of a touch and then pushed him between the shoulders lightly, sending him ankle deep into the surf. “Go.” 

“Love you, Mama.” 

“I love you too, Lance.” 

He kissed her and sprinted into Blue’s maw, ducking into the pilot’s seat and sinking into the warm leather. It molded to him like he had never left, and Blue’s screen flickered to life, revealing his mother on the beach, her hands planted proudly on her hips and a smile on her face. He waved even though she couldn’t see it, and took off into the sky, images flickering to life on his screen, giving him the stats for everyone’s lions. 

Yellow was down, unable to move. Black was guarding Yellow, taking too many hits while Hunk struggled to get back up and working. 

Green and Red were tail to tail, practically linked, firing in sync against the fleets that they were fighting. 

Lance didn’t have his helmet or his suit, but his speakers crackled to life the closer he got. 

“I can’t take another hit,” Shiro groaned, ducking and weaving around Yellow. “It’ll send Black out of commission too.” 

“Green is running low on energy,” Pidge piped up. 

“Red too,” Keith grunted. 

Hunk’s whine rang in Lance’s ears. “We need Blue.” 

“Well Allura can’t get her to work,” came Coran’s voice, from the brand-new castle-ship. “She’s tried almost five times.” 

They didn’t know Lance had Blue. They thought she was still in her new hangar. 

“Send her down again?” Hunk asked, his voice tight, like his teeth were clenched. 

“It won’t work,” Keith snapped, and Lance winced at the fear in his voice. “We need-” 

His voice cut off into a yelp as Red took a bad hit to the side, and Pidge finished his sentence for him as she blasted away the ships with her plant laser. “We need Lance,” she yelled. “We can’t do this without him!” 

It was like the entrance was made for him. A grin flickered over his cheeks. “You don’t have to,” he chuckled. 

Delighted choruses of his name hit him from all around, and he pushed through the ships, icing every ship that got too close and blasting the ones further away with his sonic cannon, interspersing the ice with fire to shake it up and to confuse the Galra. 

In the chaos, Yellow came back online, and the fleets grew smaller, until finally they were flying in formation and everyone’s faces came to life on his screen. They were all grinning. 

“Good to have you back, Lance,” Shiro said. There was a fond tone to his voice. 

“Honestly? Mom would have kicked my ass if I hadn’t come back. And she was totally right. Now can we form Voltron already?” 

“You got it,” Shiro said with a chuckle. “Everyone, on me. FORM VOLTRON!”


	30. Space Mice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro has a new hair color and a new ability - he can speak to the space mice. Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What UP it is 12:45 am and I have work in like ten hours but here I am. 
> 
> Inspired by a post by @firochai on tumblr. You should go look them up.

Shiro studied his new hair for a long while after getting dressed, turning his head this way and that to catch a glimpse of the sides and angles in the mirror. Something about it made a lump form in his chest – like his old self was officially gone, like he wasn't even himself anymore. 

Lance was good with beauty and stuff, maybe he could help him dye it? That was always an option, but it just made the anxiety in his chest rise further. Why should he hide this part of himself? Why change it back? He would just look like the clone...whose body this was...this wasn't even his own body. 

Shiro could feel the panic beginning, and he swallowed hard. 

"I don't think it looks bad," a tiny voice piped up to his right. 

He didn't think, merely answered. "It's not that it's bad, it's just...not me." 

A slightly huskier voice answered. "It's on your head, how could it not be yours?" 

Shiro managed a weak grin and glanced over, eyeing the mice as they eyed him. "I guess that's true, it is..." 

He trailed off, realization slowly dawning in his brain. "Did...did you just talk?" 

"We always do," the smallest one said with a roll of it's eyes and a twitch of it's whiskers. "Earthlings are really rude, though, no one ever responds back." 

"Lance, sometimes," the blue one argued. 

"Yeah, but he's not really responding to us, he's just talking at us. There's a difference, Plachu," the red one argued. 

"Uh...Shiro, are you okay?" the big yellow one suddenly asked him. "You look like the color of your hair." 

Shiro took a breath, completely prepared to answer normally. Instead, he screamed. 

The mice squeaked in alarm, the smallest one diving behind the yellow one in shock, and moments later there were shouts outside his room. Shiro fell backwards off his chair and the mice scrambled over to him, their voices worried. 

Their _voices._

Lance kicked the door in seconds later, leaping out of the way as Keith dove in, Galra blade at the ready. Hunk and Pidge poked their heads in on the other side, their eyes wide. "What's wrong?" Lance demanded. 

Shiro froze, looking from his teammates and back to the mice, who were now sitting on his chest blinking owlishly. "The...the mice. I can understand them." 

Keith lowered his blade slowly and stood straight, his eyebrows crinkling. "I'm sorry...what?" 

"He's not bright, is he?" Plachu muttered. 

"That's rude," Shiro found himself saying before he could think it through. 

The paladin's eyes drifted from Shiro's face and to the mice and then back to Shiro. 

"Oh my god," Hunk whispered. 

"THAT'S SO COOL!" Pidge whooped. "But how-? Oh my god." 

She bolted, though her voice carried from down the hall. "ALLURA! TRANSFER MY ESSENCE!" 

Lance stepped over, much more calmly than Shiro was expecting, and held out a hand to the mice, presumably so that Shiro could get up. Plachu bounded into his hand first and sighed. "He smells like juniberries!" 

"Did he take Allura's body wash again?" the yellow one asked as he climbed on. 

They were directing the question at him, Shiro realized. He closed his mouth and looked up at Lance, eyebrows furrowing. "Did you take Allura's body wash?" 

Lance tilted his head. "She gave me some. I liked the smell. Why?" 

"The mice like it too." 

Lance grinned and reached out his other hand, scratching Plachu's head. "You guys have good taste." 

The red one finally climbed up and Lance stood, letting Keith in to help Shiro up. The man leaned on him carefully as he stood, eyes still wide. 

"Sorry if we freaked you out," the yellow one squeaked. 

"Blame Chuchule," Plachu said with a roll of his eyes, gesturing to the red mouse. "He wanted to see your hair." 

"Chulatt is the one who brought it up in the first place!" Chuchule argued, pointing to the tiniest mouse. 

"I wouldn't have brought it up if Platt hadn't been spying!" Chulatt yelped, whirling on the large yellow one. 

They all started squeaking rapidly, too fast for even Shiro to understand, and Lance froze, moving his hands away from his body as if to get them away from him. 

"Oh my god, you guys argue as much as the paladins," Shiro groaned, dropping his head into his hands. 

"I resent that," Lance and Plachu said at the same time. 

Shiro turned to Keith, setting a hand dramatically onto his shoulder. "Next time, let me die."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the mice do actually have names, and these are it (according to the wiki page lol)
> 
> I headcanon that the mice genuinely love spending time with all the paladins, even if they CAN'T understand what they're saying. They like Lance best out of the og five, cause he feeds them and he smells good, but they love all of the paladins.


End file.
